GOT International

Nagaland death trap for migrating birds of prey

SLAUGHTER  SEASON

FOR THE AMUR FALCON

Migrating Amur falcons are being slaughtered by the thousands in the remote state of Nagaland in north-east India, a vital stopover region on their epic journey from Siberia to their winter refuge in Africa. According to conservationists in India, October is the month in which between 120,000 and 140,000 of these protected birds are caught, killed and consumed every year. Last month’s kill was caught on video by the wildlife and nature conservation group Conservation India.

The shocking Nagaland massacre of 12,000 to 14,000  Amur falcons per 
day October 2012. Video courtesy of  Conservation India.

The full story can be read at Conservation India’s website here. According to The National Geographic, Nagaland witnesses “the largest congregations of these falcons along their vast migration route from Siberia through the Himalayas and all the way down to Somalia, Kenya and South Africa. They cover over 22,000 kilometres every year and undertake the largest sea crossing of any raptor when crossing the Indian Ocean to Africa – including several nights of flying in the dark.”

Click here to view more pictures of the Nagaland massacre

(WARNING: Some of the pictures in the pdf above may be considered too gruesome and may even cause distress.)

In spite of undertakings by the Indian government to stop the massacre, “nothing seems to be happening,” says Steve Boyes of National Geographic Expeditions. India is a signatory to the Convention of Migratory Species, an international agreement to protect migrating birds, and is  President of the Convention on Biological Diversity for the next two years.

The pressure for a solution to the global slaughter of migrating birds is mounting though, but problems facing government authorities seem far from being resolved. Nagaland is not the only place where migrating birds are fair game. The killing is rampant in China, Cyprus, Barbados, Malta and even  the U.S.

See:

• The bird hunting business in China’s Hunan province: HERE
• Over 866,000 birds slaughtered so far this autumn in Cyprus: HERE
• Annual Slaughter of Migrating Waders on Barbados: HERE
• Bloody sport in Pakistan: The killing of the Houbara bustard: HERE 
• And in the US…the crackdown on the disastrous free-for-all hunting that caused the extinctions of the Labrador Duck, Great Auk, Passenger Pigeon, Eskimo Curlew and Heath Hen, and the near extinction of many others: HERE  
• In Malta, nothing is safe -- swallows, swifts, ospreys, marsh harriers,  honey buzzards, turtle doves…all are fair game: HERE

Amur Falcon (Eastern Red-footed Falcon), Falco amurensis, cernícalo del Amur, xoriguer de l'Amur, Amurfalke, Faucon de l'Amour