Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation Department in Juri upazila of Moulvibazar district has filed a case against six people on charge of killing several hundred migratory winter birds.
Finding several hundred migratory birds lying dead in Gourokuri Beel area of Hakaluki Haor in Juri upazila on November 15, a guard of the village conservation group informed the local office of the environment department.
"On November 15, I saw a large number of migratory birds lying half dead in a dried land of Gourokuri Beel. I also saw that two miscreants of the area were catching the half dead birds, and putting them into big bags after slaughtering. As I tried to resist this heinous act, the two culprits left the place with three big bags containing slaughtered birds. Still there remained a large number of dead migratory birds at the spot," said Goyendra Biswas, a guard of the village conservation group under the environment department.
Later Juri Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Monish Chakma, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Juri Police Station Md Hasanuzzaman and Forest Officer Ratan Chandra Das visited the spot and recovered the dead birds.
"The birds were killed with poison traps. Samples of the dead birds have been sent to laboratory to detect what kind of poison was used in the traps," said Gazi Mustafa Kamal, Range Officer of Moulvibazar office of Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation department.
UNO Monish Chakma said he has advised the concerned authorities to take legal steps against the miscreants involved with this heinous act.
Juri Police Station OC Md Hasanuzzaman said the environment department filed a case against six suspected miscreants in this connection on November 16 and police is trying to arrest the miscreants.
During winter, several gangs engage in hunting migratory birds using traps including poison traps at different big water bodies.
Former deputy commissioner of Moulvibazar Mofizul Islam had declared monetary award for those who would capture bird hunters and hand them over to police. But due to lack of publicity, this unique step is yet to see adequate success.
