In a recent
presentation on The
Threatened Birds of
India, at the
India International
Centre, New
Delhi, Bikram
Grewal, a prolific
writer on the birds
of India,
revealed the sad
statistics of
India's
depleting forest
cover and its
impact on the avian
population.
The Red data book
of the Zoological Survey
of India in 1994
lists only 55
threatened species
of birds, whereas,
estimates by independent experts
puts the figure
way above hundred, he said.
In Tamilnaclu,
clearing of fig
trees to provide
fodder for camp
elephants has led
to a decrease in
the state's
hornbill population. The
massive deforestation of the
Andama n and
Nicobar islands'
evergreen forests
and replacing
them with coconut
plantations has
affected the
Nicobar pigeon and
the Megapode.
Intensive pine plantations has
severely affected
pheasants in the
Himalayan region.
Grewal expressed
concerns at
the havoc created
by herb and mushroom collectors in
the Himalayan
tract, where
forests have the
largest sustainable
population of
the western
Tragopan in India.
One loophole, says
Grewal, in the country's law
is that "while
the export of
Indian birds is
banned, there is no
restriction in
the export of
foreign birds bred
in India".
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