PIL takes crow death cases to high court #h5n1

PIL takes crow death cases to high court

OUR CORRESPONDENT

The alarming phenomenon of crow deaths in the state capital and Jamshedpur was brought to the notice of Jharkhand High Court on Thursday. A city-based journalist with a vernacular daily filed a public interest litigation against the government for not taking steps to protect the scavengers. In his petition, Rana Pratap said crows are a rarity now. He added that the high court was home to many crows and other birds because of the presence of a large number of trees. However, of late, hardly any crow is seen on the premises, the PIL said. Pratap also demanded that the scavenger be included in the schedule of protected species under the Wildlife Protection Act and the government take steps to protect crows, which may soon become extinct due to the negligent attitude of the forest and animal husbandry departments. He alleged that the government was trying to fool the masses by projecting the cause of deaths as H5N1 virus. “Had it been bird flu, it would have affected other avian creatures too. Crows are important for the ecosystem as they consume dead animals,” the petitioner argued, adding that over 4,000 crows had died in the state since September. Probe teams that visited Jamshedpur — the epicenter of the scare — in November, confirmed the deaths due to H5N1, but did not explain the origin of the vector. If a study conducted by Jamshedpur ornithologist K.K. Sharma — who first sounded the alarm — is to be believed, Jharkhand had around 50,000 house crows, but in just three months, the number has come down by 40 per cent. http://telegraphindia.com/1111223/jsp/jharkhand/story_14916424.jsp