The forest department had arrested five fishermen after they allegedly poached 10 birds, including six migratory mango cranes, from a wetland in the coastal Chorwad town of Junagadh district, forest officials said on Friday.
Forest officials said that acting on a tip-off, they arrested Ibrahim, Merabhai, Hussain, Juma and Abdul along with the carcasses of six common cranes and four lesser flamingos on Wednesday. “The five accused are fishermen from Chorwad and had hunted birds by trapping kites. During interrogation, he said that he regularly eats fish, but for a change, he hunted birds and intended to consume them,” said Ashok Amin, forest officer of Malia range in Gir (West) wildlife division. said. said.
Common cranes migrate to Gujarat and other parts of western India to escape the harsh winter in Central Asia. These birds roam the wetlands and fields until the beginning of summer. However, isolated incidents of their poaching are depicted from Porbandar, Junagadh, Gir Somnath etc.
Forest officials said the fishermen were released after paying a monetary fine. “Both the common crane and the small flamingo are Schedule-IV (of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972) and the offense was compoundable. We compounded the offense against the accused after paying a compounding fee of Rs 25,000,” Amin said.