In a tragic incident, hundreds of birds were killed and their eggs and nests destroyed after a tree was felled and removed to widen the National Highway in Kerala’s Malappuram district. The video of this sad incident was shared on Twitter on Friday, September 2, by Indian Forest Service (IFS) agents Parveen Kaswan and Susanta Nanda.
In the caption, Mr. Kaswan wrote: “Everyone needs a home. How cruel can we get. Unknown location.” Mr Nanda wrote along with his video: “Because we reach our house early, we permanently destroy the houses of our inmates.”
The 44 second video was posted eight hours ago and has racked up 7.25 lakh views and over 8,000 retweets so far. The video has angered netizens and environmentalists alike. The video shows a bulldozer knocking down a tree where hundreds of newly hatched Indian cormorant chicks lived and died when it crashed. The onlookers present at the location were shocked when they saw the dead birds.
Watch the video here:
Everyone needs a house. How cruel can we get. Unknown location. pic.twitter.com/vV1dpM1xij
— Parveen Kaswan, IFS (@ParveenKaswan) September 2, 2022
For reaching our house early,
We permanently destroy the homes of our co-habitats☹️Through@k_sallap pic.twitter.com/O0lAdhYe6f
— Susanta Nanda IFS (@susantananda3) September 2, 2022
The tree was home to several birds. While few managed to fly away, many were crushed in action. The short clip of the devastating incident has frustrated netizens.
One user wrote: “Just unacceptable. When are we going to learn to respect this part of our ecosystem? This could have been planned much more sensitively,” while another user wrote: “Shocking images. A treeless future is scary. Poor birds were left homeless.” Third comment read, “Absolutely awful to watch.”
Kerala Forest Department initiates legal action
Kerala Forest Department has taken legal action against the contractor, according to local publication Manorama. Indian Cormorant (known as Neerkaka in Malayalam) is a protected species under Schedule 4 of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act.