In News
- The forest officials in Manipur have been scanning “gambling dens” following reports of wild animals – dead or alive – being offered as prizes for raffle draws.
About
- People are buying raffle draw tickets ranging from ?100 to ?500 to try their luck to win exotic meat.
- Apart from wild boars and deer, animals such as binturong (an arboreal mammal also known as bearcat), squirrels and flying foxes (bats) have been found to be on offer.
- Different types of birds such as the grey-sided thrush and tragopans (often called horned pheasants) have also been spotted.
Blyth’s tragopan
- About:
- A pheasant also called grey-bellied tragopan
- State bird of Nagaland.
- Scientific Name: Tragopan blythii
- Habitat:
- Bhutan through north-east India,
- North Myanmar to south-east Tibet, and
- China.
- Population:
- Estimated to be about 2,500 to 9,999 birds.
- Conservation Status:
- IUCN Status: Vulnerable (VU)
- CITES: Appendix I
- Threats:
- Deforestation as forest is primary habitat;
- threatened to extinction and overexploitation
- High levels of grazing and slash and burn agriculture
- Way Ahead:
- This species is legally protected in all countries in which it is found.
- Conservation awareness plans need to be implemented in all areas.
Image Courtesy: TH
Source: TH
