A mobile court in Natore district sentenced three bird hunters to two months in prison after 50 slaughtered egrets were found in the Chalan Beel wetland.
A mobile court in Singra, in Bangladesh's Natore district, sentenced three bird hunters to two months in prison and fined each Tk 2,000. They were arrested after catching and slaughtering egrets in the Chalan Beel wetland. Two helpers who transported the birds and assisted with their sale were fined a total of Tk 12,000.
Singra Upazila Nirbahi Officer and Executive Magistrate Abdullah Al Rifat led the operation at about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday on Ayash Road in Dahiya Union. The sentenced hunters were Janab Ali, 38, of Pakuria, Kahar, 19, and Liton Hossain, 30, of Bilpakuria. Van driver Abu Hanif, 40, was fined Tk 7,000, while Hosen Ali, 21, of Bilpakuria was fined Tk 5,000.
Local officials said they had received complaints that birds were being caught in Chalan Beel, slaughtered and transported in sacks for sale. Environmental activists and officials followed a van that was helping the hunters. When the slaughtered birds were loaded into it, all five suspects were detained at the scene. Authorities recovered 50 birds.
Saiful Islam, general secretary of the Chalan Beel Biodiversity Protection Committee, said egrets and other migratory birds flock to the wetland as water levels fall. He said hunters take advantage of the season to trap and secretly sell birds, prompting conservation volunteers to increase monitoring.