The Tamenglong district administration in Manipur has imposed a strict ban on the hunting, catching, and sale of Amur falcons during their roosting season, a measure aimed at conserving the globally migratory raptors that travel annually from southeastern Siberia and northern China to southern Africa.
District Magistrate Dr L Angshim Dangshawa, invoking the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, also prohibited the use of air guns until November 30, instructing all gun owners to deposit them with village authorities until the last flock departs. “Any person found wilfully violating these prohibitory orders shall face action under the provisions of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and other relevant laws in force,” the DM stated.
Also: Tagged in Manipur, Amur Falcon flies back from Africa
The ban follows a request from the Tamenglong Divisional Forest Division, which has been working to ensure the safe passage of the falcons, locally called ‘Akhuaipuina’ in the Rongmei dialect. This year, the Forest Department, in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India, plans to tag three more Amur falcons with satellite transmitters, continuing a research initiative begun in 2018 to track these birds across their 22,000 km migratory journey.
Arriving in October, the falcons roost in Tamenglong and neighbouring Wokha in Nagaland, where they feed and fatten up for their epic non-stop flight to Africa. Their southward route takes them across northeastern India, over Myanmar and the Bay of Bengal, through Southeast Asia, and eventually to their wintering grounds in southern Africa, completing one of the longest migratory journeys of any raptor. After spending several months feeding and breeding, the birds return north in the spring, retracing their route to Siberia to begin the next breeding cycle.
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