Govt to renew efforts to acquire state bird ‘baaj’

PATIALA: After years of futile efforts to capture or acquire Punjabs state bird baaj also known as Northern Goshawk Accipiter gentilis the state Wildlife Department has decided to approach east European countries besides the UAE Afghanistan and Pakistan

Updated At : 06:59 AM Dec 11, 2018 IST

Aman Sood

Tribune News Service

Patiala, December 10

After years of futile efforts to capture or acquire Punjab’s state bird ‘baaj’, also known as Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis), the state Wildlife Department has decided to approach east European countries, besides the UAE, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Associated with Guru Gobind Singh, the ‘baaj’ has been rarely sighted in Punjab. In view of dwindling hunting grounds, it has shifted to the upper Himalayan region. The department has got permission from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Central Zoo Authority to capture a ‘baaj’ in the wild.

Sources in the department said a committee would be formed to find the bird and then take steps to get its pair(s).

The bird was earlier sighted in the foothills of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, but its recent sightings have been rare. The department had in July 2011 drafted a proposal to exchange creatures with a Lahore zoo. However, the plan failed to materialise due to diplomatic issues.

“This bird is kept in captivity in Middle East and east European countries. We plan to get three to four pairs so as to facilitate breeding at our falcon breeding centre in Chhatbir Zoo,” said Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Kuldeep Kumar.

Jaskaran Sandhu, member, Punjab State Board for Wildlife, said Northern Goshawk was fast disappearing from Punjab due to poaching and habitat destruction.

Sikh scholar and former SGPC chief Kirpal Singh Badungar told The Tribune that the bird found a mention in many books on Guru Gobind Singh. “It (‘baaj’) is a symbol of power and strength. The government, the SGPC and all Punjabis who can contribute to help the state get this bird should come forward so that people can have a look at it,” he said.

In 2015, the government had issued a notification declaring that Northern Goshawk was the state bird, correcting the anomaly in the notification dated March 15, 1989. The latter had named Eastern Goshawk as the official bird.