Falcon Massacre Uncovered in India

[Shrike]

I'm always saddened to see things like this taking place:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/.../#/01-amur-falcon-stuck-net_61194_600x450.jpg

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic...we-need-to-help-these-people-stop-doing-this/

I think the second article really strikes the right tone in that events like this can be morally complex. On the one hand you have the tragedy of widespread animal slaughter, but on the other you have humans beings forced to scratch out an existence under oppressive poverty. Until we can better address gross economic inequality conservation will always be fighting a losing battle, especially in scenarios like the above. Unfortunately, I think there will be countless species, charismatic, boring (figure of speech...I don't think animals are boring), and yet to be discovered that won't survive the bottleneck.

On a much lighter note, if anybody is interested in raptor migrations here in the US, I highly recommend you check out Hawk Mountain:

http://www.hawkmountain.org/

It's well worth a trip.

 

[zonbonzovi]

Well said. From what little I read it appears that the two major issues affecting the migration during its time in Nagaland are a) tradition in regards to the hunt & b) the inability for India proper to step in because of a terse agreement w/ Nagaland.

The Mr. Practical in me says,"Where's the meat?" They certainly can't rely on that for sustenance plus from what little I read, Nagaland is agriculturally rich. I don't think the hunt would be an issue if it could be done sustainably, say limiting kills to a smaller portion of only males, for example. None of us really live in isolation anymore and it's time for tradition to to contend with that.

 

[Louise E. Rothstein]

Falcons form pairs.
Slaughtered males would be more likely to disrupt breeding than to "help" falcons.
What WOULD help would be effective protection for the breeding grounds that still exist...although it will be a job to show the anachronists who maintain their "traditional" hunt that there could be far fewer falcon breeding sites...and far fewer falcons...than there were way back when traditional hunting always left plenty of birds it may NOT leave now.