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Burma poaching endangers rare birds
Burma poaching endangers rare birds, animals
By Bit Irom
The Asian Age (New Delhi), October 27, 1997.
Kotha (Indo-Burma border), Oct. 26: Indiscriminate hunting of birds and
animals along the Indo-Burmese border has put the existence of many a
rare species into jeopardy. Hunting in the border areas increases as the
harvest season draw closer. Many birds and animals from the Ango hill
range of Burma badly ravage standing crops in villages of Manipur
Ksherrimayum Yaima, 53, village authority secretary of Kotha, the last
Manipur village bordering Burma, told The Asian Age that wild animals
and birds cause havoc in cultivated lands during this time of the year.
Villagers have launched hunting expeditions at night to protect the
crops from rampaging animals. In the past few weeks, over 30 wild
animals, including boars, hog deers, hog badgers, bats and serows have
been killed. The last victims of these expeditions was a porcupine that
was killed on October 19 at Kotha village. Tigers are also hunted at
times, he added.
Tribals hunts animals and birds at Kangban, Leibi Maring, Lanlong Maring
Kotha, New Samthal and Molcham villages along the international border
using primitive as well as sophisticated weapons. The government has
issued licences for single and double-barrelled guns. Villagers also
used muzzle loaders for hunting. Hunting dogs are used during such
expeditions. Wild fox have recently posed a serious threat by killing
cattle and other domestic animals in the area.
However, wild elephants from Ango hills of Burma have stopped their
forays to bordering villages in Manipur as the density of population in
such places has gone up. He candidly confessed that around a decade ago,
villagers use to kill the elephants too.
He claimed that the population of birds and wild animals along the
border is on the rise as the tribals, who are now divided into Naga,
Kuki and Paite camps, hardly find the time to undertake hunting
expeditions. A couple of years ago, two pythons were trapped by the
Kotha villagers and handed over to the Manipur government.