By Somya Panwar
On February 22, the forest department put a ban on photography in the forest area in Deulgaon village in Pune district’s Supe region, the restriction was imposed on people as a warning against violators after the department received multiple complaints about the unethical practices of bird call playback.
Under section 9 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 Bird call playback is considered unlawful; it’s a technique of attracting birds by playing recorded call or songs. The technique is often used by birdwatchers and photographers in order to spot and capture the rare or elusive species but it can be misused by the hunters and humans, ultimately harming the birds.
The practice is commonly used by the photographers to capture the images of migratory or rare birds spotted in the forest in Pune. After the pictures of Mottled Wood Owl, a protected species under schedule III of the Wildlife Protection Act, went viral on social media, a breeding pair of nocturnal birds is the target of the photographers that currently resides in Supe forest area. The forest department has received multiple complaints about unethical photography practices over the past ten days.
These complaints have been about bird call playback being played by the people to attract Mottled Wood Owl in the supe area, according to the Chief conservator of forests Pune circle, NR Praveen.
A full-time staff has been assigned in the area to monitor the unethical practices and stringent rules will be made and restrictions will be imposed on those who will be found violating the regulations. As several pictures of the bird have been posted on social media, showing their unnatural behavior, a ban has been put on photography to protect the species.
A member of the state Wildlife Advisory Board, Anuj Khare highlighted the sudden increase in interest in Wildlife photography in Pune. He also mentioned that currently protected areas like Bhigwan, Kumbhargoan, and Shirsufal are the main attraction of many wildlife photographers which helps biodiversity being documented. However, other areas outside the protected region are also being disturbed because of the unethical practices. Hence, the ban in Deulgaon is for the sake of protecting nesting birds.