Death trap for fish hunting birds
Lessee encircles his pond with fishing nets to prevent it from bird attack
Different species of birds, mainly the fish eating ones, have fallen into a death trap and died in Sadar upazila after the lessee of a pond encircled the entire water body with fishing nets, locally known as current nets, to save the fish from birds attack.
Villagers said at least four owls, a black cormorant, locally called pankouri, and a number of bats died in the last couple of days after they got entangled with current nets surrounding a 1.5 acre fish pond at Sundara Pirpukur village in the upazila.
Local people said one Wazed Ali of the village took lease of the pond in July this year for fish cultivation.
Pankouri, one of the fish eating birds, used to move around ponds or other water bodies in search of fish, villagers said.
As a large number of fish eating birds started thronging around the pond, the lessee recently encircled the entire pond with current nets to prevent it from birds attack and boost its fish production, they said.
“Actually it is a death trap for the birds,” Sultan Mia of the village said.
Villagers alleged when any bird gets entangled with the current net, the watchman of the pond can easily rescue that, which he never does and lets the creature die there.
During a visit to the area a week ago this correspondent saw an owl hanging dead from the current net encircling the pond.
Villagers said the endangered owl got stuck with the net on Sunday night and remained hanging till its death on Monday afternoon.
Lessee Wazed Ali said he encircled the pond with nets to save the fish of his pond as attacks of birds are on the rise in recent time.
Abdul Salam Tuhin, an officer of Divisional Forest Department in Dinajpur, said the number of endangered nocturnal birds and owls is on the decline in the country.
Killing of birds in such an inhumane way is a criminal offence, he said.