The range officer of Barhi forest area has lodged an FIR against nine villagers of Kudwa village of Khodahaar panchayat of Barhi block accusing them of killing the national bird, peacock. Police has seized the carcass of the peacock from the village in a joint raid with the forest department staff team.
Ranger of Barhi forest area Sl Das said, “On Monday we received information that some villagers of Kudwa village had killed a peacock in the vicinity of Tillaiya dam. A team of forest guards and other staffs was formed which raided the houses of suspects with the help of police jawans. In one house we finally recovered the carcass, feather, nails and other parts of the peacock.”
Peacock is our National Bird and it is a species which is on the verge of being extinct. In Jharkhand the number of peacocks is rapidly going down due to illegal poaching by the villagers and other people. In Tillaiya dam area many wild animals are killed every year during the winter season though conscious denizens are trying their best to make the people aware about the importance of wildlife.
Das said, “We also know that such type of illegal activity rises up during winter season so forest jawans are specially deputed on identified spots near Tillaiya dam to protect the animals but due to some myths people use to kill them and eat their meat.” He also accepted that peacock is a bird on the verge of extinction and said that the forest department is taking all the necessary steps to protect such animals.
In this case nine villagers namely Chathi Uraon, Basudev Uraon, Satya Uraon, Prakash Uraon, Mohan Uraon, Manoj Uraon, lallan Uraon, Dhani Uraon and Raju Uraon have been made named accused. The case has been lodged under wild life protection act and police has started searching all the culprits.