On the evening of December 19th, 2019, China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) received a “Notice of Filing” from the volunteers from the front-line Community Conservation Area (CCAfa). According to the document, the case of “illegal hunting of Oriental Stork” occurred on December 6th in the core area of Caofeidian Bird and Wetland Reserve in Hebei Province, which is in line with the filing conditions, has been filed. According to the volunteers, police officers have clearly informed the volunteers that the cause of death of the Oriental Stork was identified as Carbofuran poisoning. By the time of posting the news article, CBCGDF had received a message that the State Forestry and Grassland Administration had sent people to Tianjin and Caofeidian to investigate the death of Oriental Stork.

This unfortunate and poisoned Oriental Stork was found two weeks ago, (Recommended Reading: http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4854/10650.html), it had been dead for a long time when it was found. However, this is not a single case. Yesterday, volunteers of the “Community Conservation Area of Oriental Stork” braved the severe cold and found four Oriental Storks suspected to have died of poisoning again during daily patrol in Caofeidian Wetland (Recommended Reading: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzAxOTExMzM4Mg==&mid=2649636052&idx=2&sn=ae1bd0fc77bfecf6cc2da3ec6bec04b8&chksm=83d1681db4a6e10b8b50d5ba0e4504f7484fd33affb77c44394a336f6e74730cb95b61205f97&scene=21#wechat_redirect). One of them is also wearing a GPS locator, commonly known as “mini schoolbag”, which shows that this Oriental Stork was shouldering the task of scientific research. At the site of the accident, volunteers found many fresh human footprints. Near to the footprints, there are the Oriental Storks dead even with their eyes opened. Volunteers have no choice but to call the police again. According to the preliminary analysis of the abnormal data of the scene and tracker and the death of the Oriental Stork, the experts said that there may be three causes of the death of the Oriental Stork on December 19th:

First, poisoning at the scene of death: most of the water birds died in one pond.

Second, the Oriental Stork, which was slightly poisoned in another place, flew here overnight and died. Since the Oriental Stork wearing the locator flew to the local area at 4 p.m., and the data showed no signs of life three hours later. For this reason, the volunteers rushed to the last bird foraging place (a tidal ditch) 20 kilometers away and found no abnormality. Since it is impossible for all kinds of water birds to return to this place for the night after poisoning at a place of about 20 kilometers. Therefore, the second possibility can be basically ruled out.

Third, there may be a large number of waterbirds here, and most of them fail to move southward because of their poor health, chronic diseases, and death. If this is the case, then the Oriental Stork should be very thin and skinny. However, the body of the Oriental Stork salvaged in the afternoon was not obviously emaciated. Therefore, the third possibility can also be excluded.

In the first possible reason, the owner of the pond may have used medicine to kill bacteria after clearing the pond through drainage, because a new drainage ditch with a length of about 150 meters can be seen on the south side of the pond.

【Underlying Causes】:

From the Binhai New Area of Tianjin to Caofeidian, there were two conservation areas. Why do these migratory birds prefer to go to the fish ponds around for food?

One possible reason is that in 2012, more than 30 acres of fish ponds in the Beidagang Wetland where Oriental Storks were collectively poisoned and the surrounding areas were successively collected into the conservation area in 2015. However, after being classified into the conservation area, water level management measures that are not suitable for wading birds were taken.

The other is the original Qilihai National Wetland Park, which has been changed into a conservation area, its protection target is not migratory birds, but the landscape, including many landscape ecological projects.

Therefore, although these two conservation areas can provide a safe environment for water birds to avoid poaching on the surface, we all know the principle of “birds die for food”. Without the basic conditions for foraging, they must seek a way to live in an unsafe environment around them.

On the evening of December 19th, along with the “Notice of Filing” of the case on December 6th, another document was brought back: the Receipt of Accepting the Case. The receipt clearly indicates that Qiulaobao police station of Caofeidian District Public Security Bureau of Tangshan City has filed an investigation into the four dead Oriental Storks found on December 19th. We hope that the local police can find out the cause of the death of the four Oriental Storks as soon as possible. What we hope more is, we cannot and should not let more innocent Oriental Stork “suspect poison dead”!

(Photo credit: CBCGDF volunteers)

Original Chinese article:

http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4854/10760.html

By / Xue Tongtong