Correspondent
PASIGHAT, 17 Oct: Foresters of the Pasighat territorial forest range in East Siang district on Thursday recovered six carcasses of rare bird species, which were killed by an unidentified hunter in the Pasighat reserve forest (RF). The hunter managed to escape but left the carcasses, along with a telescope-mounted airgun, in the forest.
Officials informed that a team of foresters, including three lady staffers, were on a routine patrolling in the Partung portion of the Pasighat RF on Thursday. They saw that a hunter had entered the forest area and was hunting birds at the Partung entry point. The foresters chased him but could not nab him.
“The killed species were five wag-tailed birds (Motacilla alba) and one grey-throated warbling finch (Microspingus cabanisi), which fall
under Schedule-II of the rare and endangered avians,” said Pasighat Range Forest Officer (RFO) Neeraj Tamuk.
The RFO said also that they are drawing up an offence report over the killing of the rare species of birds and conducting primary investigation to identify the hunter.
Meanwhile, Tamuk appealed to the nearby villagers to cooperate with the department in curbing illegal hunting and poaching of wild species in the forest and the surrounding areas.
