The ‘Air Gun Surrender Abhiyan’ of the Arunachal Pradesh government has finally started showing good results, as Mandarin Duck has been sighted at the Siikhe Lake in Ziro valley. The bird was first sited on February 20 in 2021.
Appreciating the effort of the state government, the Divisional Forest Officer of Hapoli Forest Division, Abhinav Kumar said, “The state run ‘Air Gun Surrender Abhiyan’ to conserve bird species are showing results.”
The forest department officials visited the Siikhe Lake and conducted a detailed survey of all the migratory birds present there. Some of the other important avian species spotted at the lake included Common Teal, Eurasian Widgeon and Falcated Duck.
The winter migratory bird from East Asia, it is rarely sited in the North east region. The species was reported in the Loktak Lake in Manipur in 2013 and Manas National Park in Assam in 2014.
Stating that the siting of the species for the second consecutive years is a good sign, Kumar said, “There are chances that arrival of Mandarin Duck in the lake could be a regular every winter. This would help to further boost tourism in the regions.”
Hunting in Arunachal Pradesh is common practice among certain tribes. However, the state government launched the air gun surrender campaign on May, 2021, encouraging people to surrender all their hunting guns and tools.