All things that are of national significance are declining and this is true. What if the former came out as a red-hot surprise? What if someone actually said this about your country and it took you by a stroke of surprise? Well, there are things about India that one can understand easily, sans any issues or troubles. For instance, it has one of the largest coastlines for a nation in the world. That’s common for it’s a large-sized country, too big versus an Israel or several times bigger than all United Kingdom countries. Then, there are things about the country that one just cannot understand. For instance, why can’t a country with a population that measures in several billion not control its population now that the numbers have reached an alarming figure?
So when one got to know the nerve-wracking truth about the peacock population of India, one couldn’t help it but feel a bit surprised. After all, it is absolutely important to save the any national animal or bird of India. So when news came about the peafowl population of India, the same growing steadily minus any concerns, there was both surprise and a sense of gladness.
This is down to the fact that this happens to be the national bird of the country. But when the news also highlighted the situation surrounding the massively declining population of other birds, you couldn’t help but raise the question:
A country with a population of well over 135 crore individuals cannot look after various bird species? How ridiculous and shell-shocking does this sound?
Now one might wonder while the peacock population of India is thankfully not a cause of concern to a nation that’s considered the world’s largest democracy anywhere on the planet, there have been other worries.
In fact, what one can’t hide or shove under the carpet is the simple fact that similar treatment has been meted out to the tiger population of the country. Surely, despite tens of crores of rupees being spent over all these years on tiger conservation, one just hasn’t been able to save the much-loved national animal.
According to the latest study that was made available in the public domain of a recognized media platform, there emerged several telling details:
The State of India’s Birds report relied on the observations of more than 15,000 birdwatchers who helped assess the status of 867 birds.
“In the long-term trend assessment, there was appropriate data available only for 261 species, of which 52% had declined [in numbers]. For current trends, there was data only for 146 species, of which [numbers of] nearly 80% were declining,” said MD Madhusudan, co-founder of Nature Conservation Foundation.
It’s based on more than 10 million observations, drawn from sightings and meticulous notes made by professional birdwatchers.
That being said, the cause of worry surrounding the declining peacock population of India isn’t the only problem. It appears that there are several other bird species that are facing a similar declining fate. While the likes of the White-rumped Vulture and the Indian Vulture were anyways facing a negative population rate, the others that have joined the declining numbers include- Richard’s Pipit, Pacific Golden Plower, Curlew Sandpiper.
Furthermore, to add some positive notes, there are several other bird species, whose numbers, it is being said, might have increased, such as- Rosy Starling, Feral Pigeon, Glossy Ibis, Indian Peafowl.