‘From hunters to conservators’
A screengarb of the celebratory meeting on the occasion of the return of Amur Falcons on April 30 last via Zoom.
Celebratory meeting on return of Amur Falcons held
Morung Express News
Dimapur | May 2
A celebratory meeting on the occasion of the return of Amur Falcons was held on April 30 last with Temjen Toy, Chief Secretary Nagaland as the special guest.
The online celebration was conducted via Zoom, and attended by scientists, wildlife officials, research scholars and guests from Manipur as well.
Longleng, the Amur Falcon which was radio-tagged in October 2016 by Wildlife Institute of India (WII) scientists has made non-stop flight across the Arabian Sea eight times. She has since been setting record after record, said Dr Suresh Kumar from the Wildlife Institute of India. The bird was named after a district in Nagaland and has logged 9800 locations and travelled a total distance of 1,50,000 kms (approx) since tagging, Dr Kumar shared.
Celebrating combined conservation efforts
The purpose of the meeting was to celebrate the return of the Amur Falcons to India. The birds are expected to be crossing the North East soon. It is a celebration of the partnership between institutions, the government, the administration and most importantly all the people of Nagaland, said Dr Suresh Kumar.
The world looks at Nagaland as the Falcon capital of the world, but this was not the case when mass killings of birds were happening in the state. But this all changed in such a short span of time, he said, crediting the turnaround to combined efforts towards conservation of the raptors.
“So many initiatives were taken up, out of which the major step was satellite tracking that basically helped us understand the lives of these birds. The unique information that provided insights into these birds’ lives changed the mindset of so many people, and also the attitude, the way we look at them today,” Dr Kumar said.
While mentioning efforts of the government, the conservationists and WII, Dr Kumar said that what really helped bring the change was the Naga pride. “Without this pride, without the ownership, it was not possible,” he said, and thanked the villagers of Pangti, Longleng, Hakhizhe and all others involved in conservation efforts.
Nagaland Chief Secretary Temjen Toy said that the celebration is a good distraction from COVID-19. What started as a very sad story about mass killings of birds turned around to one of the best success stories in conservation, he said. People worked hard to change things with the support given by WII and Government of India, Toy said. “Your involvement has been instrumental in changing the Amur Falcon story in Nagaland. The credit goes to the people, the community, who turned from hunters to conservators and this indeed is very happy news,” the Chief Secretary added.
Community-led conservation
Zuthunglo Patton, IFS, Doyang, congratulated the people of Longleng on the return of the Amur Falcon named after the district. Recalling the initial days of the conservation campaign, she highlighted how the community-led initiatives transformed the impossible to possible. She thanked the Pangti, Wokha, Longleng and Hakhizhe village communities for wholeheartedly embracing the message of conservation. “Community-led conservation is the only answer to conservation in a place like Nagaland where the land and the resources belong to the people. I hope that these efforts will be replicated in Nagaland for all other birds and animals as well,” Zuthunglo Patton added.
Story of inspiration continues
APCCF & Chief wildlife warden Nagaland, Vedpal Singh said that the Amur Falcon conservation story is one which showed that we can set examples in the field of conservation. The story continues to inspire especially the young people of Nagaland who now wish to change the way we can work through the various aspects related to conservation, he said. He also stressed that, given the typical land ownership pattern in Nagaland, unless the community join hands along with the government and the department, it will be difficult for the department alone to manage the issues related to conservation.
Dr Dhananjai Mohan, Director of Wildlife Institute India said that the work which started 6 years ago for conservation of Amur falcons is bearing fruits. It is a matter of great pride not only for Nagaland and India, but for the whole world, and is truly a celebration, he said.
Wildlife conservation activist and founder of the Nagaland Wildlife Biodiversity Conservation Trust, Bano Haralu said that amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, we are giving out hope from a small corner of the world. She expressed hope that satellite tagging would become a part of scientific studies of every school in Nagaland and in India, so as to be more connected to these raptors.
During the meeting, Nagaland’s conservation success story inspiring other states like Manipur to emulate the same was also highlighted. The participants also deliberated on how the celebration could be extended beyond borders and unite everyone involved in the conservation of Amur Falcons.
