Imphal: Manipur Forest Department launched one day wild bird awareness campaign aiming to protect and conserve the endangered hornbill bird species at Tamei Market Center in Tamenglong district on Friday.
The campaign aimed to protect and conserve hornbills an endangered species locally known as Langmeidong found in Manipur’s Tamenglong district sharing borders with Assam and Nagaland on the northwest.
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Speaking at the event, former Manipur water resources Minister Awangbow Newmai stated that, the authorities had warned the hunters not to hunt Langmeidong birds during pre-monsoon, the breeding period of this rare species. Despite warning, the ruthless hunters in the districts of Tamenglong and Noney hunted many matured hornbills and killed for it their meats .
He also called for stopping the killing expedition to this endangered species.
Minister said, Manipur is a home of six species of Hornbill. Moreover, Tamenglong district is a home of Four varieties of Hornbill.
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They are the Great Hornbill (Buceros bicornis), Wreathed Hornbill (Rhyticeros undulatus), the Indian Grey Hornbill (Ocyceros birostris), and the Malabar Pied Hornbill (Rhyticeros beemae).
The authorities have classified these birds as Vulnerable and the authorities are protecting them under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972
In 2017, the village authorities of the Charinapang, a small village located in the Tousem sub-division of Tamei Assembly Constituency in Tamenglong district took up stringent measures to protect the hornbill birds. Village authorities also specified a fine of Rs 500 for killing or catching the bird.
As the incidents of killing or harming these birds have almost stopped, we have seen few birds in the village in these years.