From pankajs@VSNL.COM Sun Jun 19 12:15:27 2005
Date: Sun, 12 Jun 2005 18:13:46 +0530
From: Pankaj Sekhsaria 
To: nathistory-india@Princeton.EDU
Subject: Call to save white-winged wood duck

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Call to save white-winged wood duck
Correspondent : Staff Reporter
SOURCE : The Assam Tribune, Thursday, June 09, 2005

JORHAT, June 8- Given the fact that the white-winged wood duck (Cairina
Scutulata) has been pushed to the edge of extinction, a green NGO named
Friends of Nature has suggested generating awareness and implementing
community-based conservation programmes to save the rare avian species.
Dashing off a press note to this newspaper, the organisation's director
Mriganka Krishna Gogoi felt that protected areas like Nameri, Dibru Saikhowa
and Dehing Patkai alone could not offer the requisitive foraging and nesting
space for the rapidly depleting population of the bird, "which today numbers
around 300-400 members in the wilds of Assam". Incidentally, "the species
which is nocturnal in nature and tree dwelling, is officially recognised as
the State bird", he mentioned. "Inhabiting tropical rain forests of South
East Asia, the birds usually forage for food in the water in flocks of
threes and fours", Gogoi added.
"As largescale encroachment of their natural habitat has been continuing
unabated, the shrinking bird population has been primarily confined to
isolated pockets of Kolha, Tinkopani, Tirap, Upper Dehing, Dirak, Joypur,
Dilli, Dumdooma and Dangori reserve forests", it was pointed out. "The
foraging and breeding sites of the birds have been severely polluted in
recent times by mining and oil exploration activities by the concerned
authorities", Gogoi alleged. "Unfortunately, accentuating the situation even
further, rampant hunting and smuggling of eggs and ducklings have also dwelt
a severe blow to the conservation efforts", he reasoned.
As per a recent assessment made by the NGO, "the stronghold of the species
exists only in the Patkai range and Dehing valley", the release claimed.
"Over and above official protection accorded to the bird, minus,
people-oriented conservation programmes in the near future, the future of
the species does not seem too bright", the green NGO speculated.

SOURCE : The Assam Tribune, Thursday, June 09, 2005



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