Assam: Local administration chops down bamboo trees destroying Egret colonies, says birds spread COVID-19

GUWAHATI: The Tangla Municipality Board in Udalguri district of Assam chopped down  bamboo trees sheltering colonies of cattle egrets.

According to sources, the local administration issued a notice on June 8 to a group of residents of the area stating that the bamboo grove needs to chopped down as it may result in the spread of COVID-19 infection. 

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It further stated that the excretion of the birds has resulted in a 'unhealthy' atmosphere.

As the residents didn't take any action, the Municipality Board chopped down the trees on Thursday which destroyed the nestlings.

Talking to InsideNE, Assistant professor of Wildlife sciences, Don Bosco University, Nilutpal Mahanta, said that the act is a sheer violation of Wildlife Protection Act 1972 under Article 9.

"Also they have misled people by stating that bird excreta can lead to the spread of COVID-19 without any scientific proof", he added.

Based on these two points, Mahanta is heading to file a complaint against the local administration.

Mahanta further informed that the grove was sheltering over 300 egrets out of which mostly were newborns. "There were many other options that could have been adopted to solve the issue in stead of chopping it down and leave the poor egrets to die", he added.

Mahanta informed that the WTI rescue centre team of Kaziranga is on its way to save the rest of the birds.

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