AP PHOTOS: Wildlife workers feed birds in freezing Kashmir
By DAR YASIN
SRINAGAR, India (AP) – Wildlife officer Ghulam Mohiuddin Dar and his colleagues break the ice in a frozen swamp, row their boats and spread grain to feed migratory birds in India-controlled Kashmir.
Authorities feed the birds to prevent them from starving as climatic conditions in the Himalayan region deteriorate, with two heavy snowfalls since December. Temperatures plummeted to minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit).
Vast rice fields and apple orchards are covered with snow. Many marshes and lakes, including parts of the famous Dal Lake, froze.
The laughter and screams of hundreds of thousands of birds that visit Kashmir during their winter migration have been a welcome noise for the region’s inhabitants. They arrive from places as far away as Eastern Europe, Japan and Turkey to feed and breed in the marshes between the peaks and plateaus of the region.
“They are our guests,” said Dar on a cold day as he threw grains at bird feeding spots in the Hokersar wetland.
Officials say at least 700,000 birds have migrated to Kashmir in the past two months and expect more birds to arrive as temperatures improve in February.
In the past few decades, the number of visiting birds has declined, which experts say is due to a combination of climate change and urban development. They say construction around the swamps, accumulated garbage and changes in the Himalayan climate are robbing birds of their traditional drinking fountains and nesting areas.
According to a recent study by the University of Kashmir, the Hokersar swamp shrank from almost 19 square kilometers (7 square miles) in 1969 to 12.8 square kilometers (5 square miles) today.
But Kashimir’s tense security situation made it difficult to address environmental issues in the famous Kashmir Valley – a vast collection of marshes and connected canals, known both for its idyllic views and flower-filled meadows and for its decades-long battle against Indian rule. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict since 1989.
The mountainous region of Kashmir, 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 soldiers. It is claimed by India and Pakistan in its entirety.
Environmentalists are asking residents to offer food to birds in icy conditions.
“It is not only our official duty to feed them, but also a guidance from God,” said Dar.