80 peacocks die after eating pesticide-treated seeds

Mishra said post-mortem of the dead birds in Morena indicated that they hadconsumed chemically-treated bajra seeds sown by farmers in the area.

“It’s a disquieting report but there is no danger of the extinction of thenational bird. In fact their number is growing,” he assured, adding that this was mainly because of a strict enforcement of the ban on their killing.

Maharajpura villagers also confirmed that the birds started dying almost immediately after bajra was sown. “Every day, we have seen two or three of these birds dying,” said Hakim Singh, a village elder. “These birds have become so weak that they are even easy prey for dogs who pounce on them while they pick seeds in our fields.”

Authorities were alerted about the mass deaths by an NGO, People for Animal Forum (PAF), and a thorough post-mortem examination was conducted on two of the dead birds at Morena district headquarters two days back. Internal hemorrhage was cited as the cause of death.

“Mercuric and phosphate group chemicals normally cause this (pesticide),” said district veterinary surgeon Dr A.P. Gupta, who conducted the autopsies. According to him, this could have resulted from eating chemically-treated seeds.

Veterinary Officer S. Mishra said in Morena: “A final conclusion can be drawn only after the viscera report is obtained from the Sagar-based forensic laboratory.”

District Collector Pramod Agrawal said there was no prima-facie evidence against anyone who could be booked for the deaths. “Since the tragedy involves the national bird, it is a cause of concern,” he added.

“Similar deaths had occurred in Mahendragarh district of Haryana some years back,” recalled PAF general secretary Ravindra Kumar Dandotia. A largenumber of peacocks had died within 48 hours of consuming chemically-treatedseeds and a study by the Chaudhary Charan Singh Agriculture University ofHaryana revealed that these chemicals were poisonous for peacocks, he said.

Mishra agreed that some of the pesticides and insecticides could prove fatal for the national bird. “But we can’t use the Wildlife Act against farmers. We can only try to educate them,” he explained.

Despite state forest officials’ assurance that the national bird was in no danger of becoming extinct, village elders of Malwa Nimar and Madhya Bharat visited by this correspondent give a different impression. They claim that the peacock is losing the battle for survival. It is the same story in villages like Jamli, Kadarawat and Sarangi of the tribal-dominated Jhabua district.

Petlabad division of Jhabua had a peacock population of 20,000 in the ’70s,leading to a demand that it be declared the Peacock National Park. By 1994,their number had come down to 9,000. “Today not more than 2,000 peacockssurvive,” claims a resident of Sarangi village, where eight peacocks died after eating poisonous food. Dozens died in Jamli village after drinking poisoned water during 1998-99.

Meanwhile, a team of veterinary doctors and some voluntary groups are camping in the area. They have suggested to farmers to keep earthen pots full of water in their fields so that in case the birds eat some poisonous food, they could drink water to reduce any fatal impact.