Torture on Brahminy Kites

This is a horrifying story of Brahminy Kites from Ullala-Kotepura beach; this place is around 15km from Mangaluru city.

Problem in nutshell

Local fishermen use around half km stretch on this beach and dry fish, and sell them later. This process however is not a quiet one; many birds (around 5 varieties) that eat fish are attracted towards this place. To protect their fish, these fishermen mercilessly install traps and kill hundreds of birds.

Extreme torture on Brahminy Kites

Worst torture is faced by Brahminy Kites – they don’t get straightway killed, but instead their legs are tied and fishermen throw them on sand. The logic of local fishermen is that the scream of such kites will drive away rest of the birds. Typically the sand gets super heated under bright sun and constant screaming of already injured kites before they eventually die are truly heartbreaking.

Not just this, their story of misery continues; it is also observed that the local fishermen play ringtones using their mobile phones in order to confuse/annoy the injured/tied up birds and make them scream harder.

Pictures explain it all

Birds attracted towards fish

 

Fisherman tying up an injured Brahminy Kite

Fisherman annoying Kites using mobile phone

Fisherman annoying Kites using mobile phone

Brahminy Kites hopelessly left on hot sand

Need to protect endangered species against illegal human activity

Brahminy Kites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahminy_Kite) are magnificent birds that belong to eagle family. Though the ‘Conservation Status’ of these birds is ‘Least Concern’ in IUCN Red List*, local expert Jayaprakash Bhandary (Currently Director in Pilikula Nisargadhama and Retired Deputy Forest Conservation Officer in Forest Department) confirms that they are fast moving towards extinction and it is high time that we try and conserve these.

* IUCN stands for “International Union for Conservation of Nature”. More details on IUCN Red List can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IUCN_Red_List

As per the Wild Life Protection Act, killing these birds is an offense that can attract 5 years of imprisonment and Rs.5000/- fine.

Stray Dogs tortured too?

Apparently stray dogs also get attracted towards these fish and get a taste of extreme cruel treatment by these local fishermen. These dogs get stabbed by sharp objects and get severely injured, and return back bleeding and limping.

Unhealthy conditions to dry fish?

Some say that the place is quite unhygienic overall and hence not at all suitable to dry fish that is later sold for edible purposes.

Ray of Hope

Dakshina Kannada district collector Dr. N. S. Channappa Gowda has expressed that he was not aware of the situation and also promised that he will take suitable actions against this cruel practice of killing and torturing birds.

What can you do to help?

If you visit the place, and observe that this practice is still continuing, please write to local news papers as well as concerned authorities. Please also try and take some pictures/videos if possible and make your case stronger.

Human vs. rest of the species – let us ponder on this once again

The local fishermen are pictured as absolute villains in the story so far. However, we need to understand that they are also trying to survive, using their own traditional knowledge and life skills. Hence, no solution would be perfect if we are unable to empathize with them.

How much right human being ethically has on rest of the species and environment – this is a constantly debated item. However, I think most learned people agree that unnecessary cruelty should be avoided, wherever possible.

Also, I request you to think about root cause of the problem. It is not attitude of the fishermen or the choices they make to carry out their business; it is the demand for their products among general public. Yes, that is right – if people are able to overcome their temptation and mental blocks towards animal based products in their diet and adopt a plant based diet, automatically this kind of torture will be stopped. Even fish will be spared of their ‘breathtaking’ death, not just the birds highlighted above.

I would like to end this with a philosophical note: Being super intelligent species, can we not find alternative ways to fulfill our needs and greed? Being species with evolved emotions, can we not show higher level of compassion on other species around?

Source: Kannada Daily “Hosadigantha” 12-Feb-2012; additional pictures are from Pramod Pailoor.

Disclaimer: This blog article is written based on the above mentioned trustworthy sources and I haven’t got a chance to personally visit this place yet.