SONMIANI: A large number of flamingo babies born in the remote sand dunes of Miani Hor have died over the past few weeks when people in the surrounding fishing settlements took them home in an attempt to domesticate them but failed to provide proper care, a recent visit to the area showed.

Although not a single flamingo could be spotted during the visit to the Miani Hor lagoon (a Ramsar site), the Dawn team managed to see quite a few babies still alive in captivity.

According to the area residents, it is the first time in decades that they had seen thousands of flamingo chicks floating on the Miani Hor waters. Not a single person, however, has so far been fined for capturing the birds, a protected species under the Balochistan wildlife law, called ‘lakha’ in local parlance.

“Most fishermen caught them when these chicks moved away from their nesting grounds and came to the waters looking for jellyfish,” said Saleem, a fishermen residing in Damb village, part of tehsil Sonmiani of Lasbela district, Balochistan.

Saleem got three flamingo chicks in the mid of Ramazan from a friend. Only one has survived. “I feed it roti or bread soaked in water as well as flour mixed in water. I lost the two chicks within a week,” he said while showing a visibly weak, around three-foot tall flamingo baby.

It emerged during the visit that the wading bird, along with other migratory species, is seasonally hunted in the area and also served as a delicacy. Villagers, however, insisted that they had no intention to sell the captured babies or eat them once they grow up.

One villager also had a pair of cranes along with an injured flamingo chick in captivity. The migratory cranes caught about seven months ago fetched a good price in the market, he said.

Master Abdul Rasheed, a government school teacher in his late 40s who has worked with two civil society organisations promoting the cause of nature conservation, said he and his friends had grown up seeing huge flocks of flamingos but their numbers had gradually reduced with the increase in human population along the coast.

“We had never seen the bird breeding here till 2006 when we saw its chicks in the water for the first time,” he said, adding that the number of flamingo chicks this time was much greater.

He suggested that the government or an NGO should come forward and start a project for flamingo conservation.

New discovery

Mohammad Moazzam Khan, representing the World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-P), identified the species as greater flamingos. “There are six flamingo species in the world, of which two are found in Pakistan. It’s unfortunate that people have started poaching their chicks, which is against national and international law. The relevant government department should take action against this practice,” he said.

Referring to a visit to the area of Talqar, district Ormara in 1980s, he said he spotted many mounds of mud there along the edge of a vast dried piece of land.

“I knew that were flamingo nests. A local friend told me that this area had turned into a big lake after receiving heavy rainfall last year in July and September. That attracted flamingos in large numbers who later bred here,” he said.

Recently in 2011 and 2012, he said, flamingo nesting grounds were found in Nagarparkar. The bird travelled from neighbouring countries and arrived at different water bodies in Pakistan in winter, he added.

Upon contact, Jehangir Durrani, a former WWF-P official who has worked extensively on birds, feared that the captured wild birds wouldn’t survive in captivity.

“They will die of malnutrition. Flamingos, like whale sharks, are filter feeders and eat algae and tiny animals that live in the mud at the bottom of shallow pools,” he said, adding that the bird required a special diet in captivity.

According to Durrani, flamingo habitats have almost vanished from Sindh due to change in water course, pollution, increasing human population and excessive hunting pressures.

“They have made the Indian Gujrat their home. Their reported nesting ground in Miani Hor needs to be investigated because this place has never been reported as their breeding ground earlier,” he said.

Strict implementation of law, in his opinion, was the only way to conserve flamingo population.

Forest/wildlife officer, district Lasbela, Saleem Javed Zehri said that though he heard many stories about flamingo captures over the past two months in Miani Hor, his staff found no evidence to substantiate the claim.

“One official is posted in that area. I have also personally visited the area thrice but found nobody harming the flamingo chicks,” he said.

He admitted bird hunting allegations but said often this practice involved members of law enforcement agencies who use their influence to let culprits go scot free.

An interesting fact about flamingoes is that they are one of three bird species (the other two being pigeons and male emperor penguins) to produce a milk-like substance to feed their young.

Parent flamingoes feed their chicks exclusively crop milk for five to 12 days after hatching. This high fat, high protein substance is not like mammalian milk, but is excellent nutrition for growing chicks.

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2015

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