AP PHOTOS: Game officials feed birds in frozen Kashmir
By DAR YASIN
SRINAGAR, India (AP) – Wildlife officer Ghulam Mohiuddin Dar and his colleagues are breaking the ice on a frozen wetland, rowing their boats and spreading grain to feed migratory birds in India-controlled Kashmir.
Officials are feeding the birds to prevent their famine as weather conditions in the Himalayan region deteriorate, with two heavy snowfalls since December. The temperature dropped to minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit).
Large varieties and apple orchards are covered with snow. Numerous wetlands and lakes, including parts of the famous Dalmeer, froze.
The giggles and howls of hundreds of thousands of birds visiting Kashmir during their winter trek have long been a welcome noise for the people of the region. They come from as far away as Eastern Europe, Japan and Turkey to feed and breed in the wetlands between the mountain peaks and plateaus in the region.
“They are our guests,” Dar said on an icy day when he dropped grain at bird feeders on the Hokersar wetland.
Officials say at least 700,000 birds have flocked to Kashmir in the past two months and expect more to arrive as temperatures improve in February.
In recent decades, the number of visiting birds has decreased, which experts say is due to a combination of climate change and urban development. They say construction around wetlands, accumulated garbage and the changing climate in the Himalayas are robbing the birds of their traditional waterholes and nesting areas.
According to a recent study by the University of Kashmir, the Hokersar Wetland shrunk in 1969 from nearly 19 square kilometers (7 square miles) to today 12.8 square kilometers.
But Kashimir’s tense security situation has made it difficult to address environmental issues in the famous Kashmir Valley – a vast array of contiguous wetlands and waterways known for idyllic views and flowery pastures as well as for its decades – long struggle against the Indian government. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict since 1989.
The mountainous Kashmir region, part of which is controlled by neighboring Pakistan, is crossed by hundreds of kilometers (miles) of barbed wire and patrolled by hundreds of thousands of Indian troops. It is claimed by both India and Pakistan as a whole.
Environmentalists are urging residents to provide food to the birds in the icy conditions.
“It is not only our official duty to feed them, but also a command from God,” Dar said.