Many practical activities to protect migratory birds in Kim Son, Ninh Binh

On January 11, the Kim Son District Forest Protection Department coordinated with the Wildlife Action Center (WildAct) to dismantle 2,500 meters of bird traps and rescue trapped migratory birds in Kim Son District, Ninh Binh Province.

Implementing Directive 04/CT-TTg of the Prime Minister on a number of urgent tasks and solutions to conserve wild and migratory birds in Vietnam, WildAct continues to coordinate with the Kim Son District Forest Protection Department to carry out activities to dismantle blind net bird traps.

Nhiều hoạt động thiết thực bảo vệ chim di cư ở Kim Sơn, Ninh Bình

The violating household voluntarily released the animals on the spot under the supervision of the field working group. (Source: WildAct)

As a result, out of 26 points the delegation passed through, 6 trap points were discovered, 26 traps were dismantled, with a total length of more than 2,500 m of fog nets, and 8 birds were rescued.

After working with rangers to collect the traps, WildAct plans to collaborate with a number of recycling social enterprises in Vietnam to jointly develop appropriate methods for handling net traps to minimize environmental impacts.

Under the framework of the project “Strengthening law enforcement and raising public awareness to protect Spoon-billed Sandpipers and other migratory birds in the Red River Delta Biosphere Reserve”, WildAct will continue to coordinate with local authorities, schools and communities to carry out public awareness raising activities to effectively conserve wild and migratory birds.

Ms. Le Thu Ha, WildAct representative participating in the field dismantling, shared: “Working with the Kim Son Forest Ranger Force to dismantle bird traps is one of the meaningful and important activities within the framework of our project.

This shows effective coordination between conservation organizations and authorities to effectively carry out migratory bird conservation work.

Hopefully, with the cooperation and support of organizations like WildAct, the work of surveying and removing migratory bird traps will be more convenient and effective in the following migratory bird seasons."

The Kim Son District Forest Protection Department said that the situation of setting nets to trap birds has decreased significantly thanks to the propaganda campaign from the district to communes and villages; organizing two conferences and seminars on the management and protection of wild and migratory birds to households and individuals in Kim Son and Yen Khanh districts with a total of 110 people.

Forest rangers and WildAct team carry out activities to remove migratory bird traps. (Source: WildAct)

Forest rangers also have weekly and monthly operations in coordination with local authorities to remove traps and handle violations.

In addition, at the end of 2023, WildAct conducted a threat survey, recording the coordinates of hunting violations in Kim Son, Kim Hai, Yen Mo districts (Ninh Binh); Thai Thuy, Tien Hai districts (Thai Binh) and Giao Thuy, Hai Hau districts (Nam Dinh). Data such as the number of traps, trap types, locations, number of bird species and species found were collected and sent to the Forest Protection Departments of relevant provinces for processing.

In addition, rangers from the Forest Protection Departments of the relevant provinces of Ninh Binh, Thai Binh and Nam Dinh were trained by two experts, veterinarian Lesley Halter and Mark Goelkel from Four Paws, on how to handle bird rescues. The training also covered zoonotic diseases and how to prevent them, helping rangers to be fully equipped with safety knowledge while performing their duties.

The Red River Delta Biosphere Reserve (RDB) of Vietnam is a biodiversity hotspot located at the heart of the East Asian-Australian Flyway (EAAF) of migratory birds.

However, this area has witnessed a serious decline in migratory birds over the years due to rampant illegal hunting.

Kim Son District, Ninh Binh is one of the areas in the CTSH Biosphere Reserve that is facing the increasingly serious problem of illegal hunting of migratory birds.

Source