NEW DELHI, September 4: Wildlife photos do not always make for good posters. Especially, when they are politically incorrect when they are insensitive to wildlife in general, and when they violate exisiting wildlife laws. A few days back, a collection of three photographs in Rajasthan Patrika did just that.
Wilfelife conservationists woke up on the morning of August 30 to see close-up pictures of a newly hatched spot-billed duck surrounded by egg shells on the front page of Rajasthan Patrika's Jaipur edition. As if this was not enough, the second page came across as more shocking. It had two more close-up pictures of the nest in one the newly hatched chick was nestled in a human hand. The photographs had been taken at Man Sagar Lake, Jaipur where the spot-billed ducks have supposedly nested after many years (according to the same article).
Conservationists believe it was extremely irresponsible on behalf of the newspaper to have published the photographs. The pictures portray careless and selfish human intrusion into the life of a wild bird. The act of taking the photograph of a newly hatched chick in a human hand can result in predators spotting the helpless bird and even the mother abandoning the new born. Moreover, such pictures also encourage the general public to do the same act.
The spot-billed duck (Anas poecilorhyncha) figures in the 2005 Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and is also a protected species under the Wildlife Protection Act of India. Such intrusions into its life is "unlawful". Though the bird is in the Least Concern category of the Red List, nevertheless the act is not only illegal prima facie, it is just as much insensitive.
