After the death of 20 domesticated ducks and rounds of blame game between various UT departments over the incident, the UT Forest and Wildlife Department on Monday finally adopted the domesticated ducks to provide them a safe habitat and sufficient food at Sukhna lake.
Since last week, 20 domesticated ducks have died at city’s Sukhna lake and three UT departments namely the UT Forest and Wildlife Department, UT Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Department and CITCO had locked horns over the protection of these domesticated ducks, which are in huge numbers at the
man-made water body.
To protect the domesticated birds from severe cold conditions and provide them with food, the UT Forest and Wildlife Department has created a shelter at lake’s island.
While talking to The Pioneer, Santosh Kumar, UT Conservator of Forests-cum Wildlife Warden said, “There are around 100 domesticated ducks at the Sukhna lake and the UT Forest and Wildlife Department has adopted them.”
He said, “I along with a team of the Department had visited the lake. We have created a shelter at the lake’s island to protect these ducks from cold conditions at night. Also, the Department’s staff has been asked to feed them with bajra, jowar, etc.”
Following the death of domesticated ducks last week, the UT Department had banned feeding ducks and other water fowls at the lake.
“The UT police officials deployed at the lake have been asked to enforce the ban on feeding ducks and other water birds. Our department is now making arrangements to provide sufficient food to the domesticated ducks,” said Santosh Kumar.
The UT Department is apprehending the biting cold conditions and extreme temperature variations in Chandigarh as main factors that led to the death of ducks although another factor of food poisoning has not been neglected.
As per the reports received, no signs of H5N1 avian influenza or any another virus was found in the domesticated ducks that had died last week. The UT Wildlife Department had sent the body of dead birds to Regional Disease Diagnostic laboratory (RDDl), Jalandhar in Punjab to determine the cause of death and to check if avian flu was the cause of death.
The UT wildlife warden said, “No signs of bird flu were found in the dead birds. Now, the samples have been sent to High Security Animal Disease laboratory in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh to determine the causes of death of these birds.”
“As per the preliminary reports received from Jalandhar lab, lung infection was found in dead birds and it is stated that extreme temperature variations in Chandigarh has led to the death of domesticated water birds,” he added.
In previous such incidents, over a dozen birds had died at Sukhna after suspected
bacterial poisoning in the year 2007.
In January this year, two migratory birds of common Pochard species had died due to food poisoning. last year, the migratory birds were seen flocking around the walkway at the Sukhna lake where the visitors often feed them with birds’ “unnatural diet” including bread crumbs, chips, roasted gram among others.
Previously from December 2012 to January 2013, eight migratory birds of species including common pochard and common coots were found dead at Sukhna lake.
Notably, more than 1,000 migratory birds have made their abode at Sukhna lake this year. The UT Forest and Wildlife Department with the assistance of UT Police has already stepped up its vigilance to provide a safe habitat to both migratory and domestic birds and ward off the risks of deadly bird flu.
According to the UT Forest and Wildlife Department, there are around 100 domestic ducks and 50 migratory birds near the boating area while more than 1,000 winged guests have made abode at the regulator end of Sukhna lake.
Every year, the migratory birds reach Chandigarh by mid-November from Siberia, Central Asia, China, Afghanistan and the upper Himalayas and their stay lasts till March or April.