Nature enthusiasts who went to Achankulam near Coimbatore on Saturday found snares meant to trap birds.
The snares made of nylon threads were removed from the shore of the tank and destroyed based on the advice from the Forest Department.
V. Chithran, a nature enthusiast from Singanallur, found the snares on the shore of the tank when he went to the place for bird watching along with his friend on Saturday.
“The snares were found when I was photographing a common sandpiper, a shore bird, from distance using telephoto lens. While trying to focus on the bird, I found multiple nooses dangling from a rope which was tied tightly between two stumps. Later we went to the location and confirmed that it was placed by miscreants to trap birds,” he said.
Mr. Chithran, who often hands over snakes he rescued from his locality to the Forest Department, immediately alerted Coimbatore range office about the snares. The snares were removed from the shore and destroyed on the advice of the department staff, he said.
“The owner of a farm from the locality told us that unknown persons come to the shore in the evening with headlights and lay traps for birds and hare,” he added.
An independent researcher who visits some of the tanks, including Achankulam for the study of water birds, said that the traps could be meant for large birds like pelicans and painted storks.
“The poachers could have laid the snares for large birds for meat and not for small shore birds,” said the researcher who did not want to be named.
A senior official from the Forest Department said that the laying of traps at the tank will be checked.
Snares meant to trap birds and lesser known species like mongoose were earlier found on the bunds of other tanks in Coimbatore.
