North Lakhimpur: An endangered bird species has been found killed and consumed by miscreants in a riverine area in Lakhimpur district.
The incident took place in the Ghagar area on the banks of river Subansiri where several numbers of Swamp Partridge (Ortygornis gularis) locally called Hoycolly were found and killed on the river bank, presumably by picnickers.
Swamp Partridge is an IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (2016) categorised as vulnerable.
A large number of feathers and wings of the bird are found on the river bank confirming their killing and consumption by people.
Also called the Swamp Francolin, the Swamp Partridge, as its name implies, has a habitat, affects high grass and cane breaks near the edges of rivers and wetlands and it comes into cultivated ground to feed.
It is found mostly on the alluvial plains of the Ganges and Brahmaputra and has become endangered due to rampant hunting for food by humans in the last several decades.
The killing and consumption of this endangered bird has taken place just five kilometers from district headquarters in North Lakhimpur making a mockery of the existing wildlife protection departments and law enforcement agencies.