India - Stop the Trapping of Amur Falcons for the Meat Trade
- by: Judith B.
- recipient: Jayanthi Natarajan, Minister for Environment and Forests, Government of India
As a predominately vegetarian country, India has a reputation for not allowing its wildlife to be slaughtered for the meat trade. Unfortunately, the reality is much grimmer. Among the animals that are trapped and killed in their thousands as an expensive delicacy are numerous small birds, including the Amur falcon.
In a massacre reminiscent of the songbird slaughter in Cyprus, tens of thousands of Amur falcons are trapped every year as they stop in northeast India on their migration between Europe and Africa, according to Conservation India.
The birds are trapped in huge nets and kept alive until they are sold. Some are sold door-to-door in local villages but where the rest go is as yet uncertain. The trapping is completely illegal under both Indian and international law.
Tell the Indian government that the slaughter has to stop.
Minister Natarajan,
We the undersigned ask that you take immediate action to stop the wholesale slaughter of the Amur falcon
(Falcon amurensis)and other wild birds in Nagaland and elsewhere for the commercial meat trade.
This slaughter is illegal under international law on migratory birds and belies India's claims to be a leader on conservation issues. There is little justification for allowing the massacre of small birds to continue, especially on this scale.
While some of India's recent achievements in conservation have been impressive, notably with the recovery of tiger populations, smaller animals should not be ignored because they are not as glamorous and do not attract so much media attention.
The Amur falcon and other wild birds need conservation as much as the larger species and allowing them to be slaughtered in their tens of thousands for profit on an illegal market it not acceptable.
Please take steps to address this issue as a matter of urgency.
Thank you for your attention.
