Depts pass buck over upkeep of geese

Bipin Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 13

The UT Wildlife and Animal Husbandry Departments have locked horns over the upkeep of the domesticated geese, that have multiplied almost 10 times in this tourist destination of the City Beautiful in the past nearly one decade.

With the death toll of geese at Sukhna Lake rising to 15 in the last few days, officials of both the departments are now passing the buck, even as nearly 100 geese at the lake continue to be fed by visitors.

Sources said the geese, shifted to the lake in 2007, are not being fed by both the departments.

The Wildlife Department has been apprehending aging and cold wave as the two main factors that led to the geese deaths after the Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (RDDL), Jalandhar, ruled out the possibility of avian influenza virus. The reports of blood samples of the dead birds also tested negative at the RDDL on Friday.

Talking to The Tribune, Santosh Kumar, Chief Wildlife Warden, claimed that the geese, released in the lake, were domesticated and it was the responsibility of the Animal Husbandry Department to nurture them.

“The Wildlife Department is concerned about wild animals and migratory birds. We assisted the Animal Husbandry Department in sending the blood samples and certain carcasses to the RDDL in our own vehicle,” claimed Kumar.

He also claimed that the Chandigarh Tourism Development Corporation Limited (CITCO) was equally responsible for the upkeep of geese at the lake.

“As the CITCO is promoting tourism at the lake, the department should look after the geese that are a major attraction for the tourists,” added Kumar.

Countering the allegations, Dr Lovelesh Kant Gupta, joint director, Animal Husbandry Department, claimed, “Since the lake falls under the jurisdiction of the Wildlife Department, it was their responsibility to feed and take care of the geese.”

“The Animal Husbandry Department has been releasing 8 lakh fish seedlings in the lake every year to provide sufficient prey to the migratory birds and the domesticated geese. To say that the geese died due to the absence of sufficient food is not justified,” added Dr Gupta.

“It is our duty to provide veterinary care and technical assistance to the wildlife officials and we are doing so,” he claimed.