Wildlife officials feed frozen Kashmir birds

SRINAGAR, India (AP) – Wildlife official Ghulam Mohiuddin But his colleagues are also breaking ice on a frozen wetland, paddling their boats and spreading grain to feed Indian-controlled migratory birds in Kashmir.

Officials are feeding the birds to prevent their famine as weather conditions in the Himalayas deteriorate, with two heavy snowfalls since December. Temperatures dropped to minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit).

Vast rice fields and apple orchards are covered with snow. Dozens of wetlands and lakes, including parts of the famous Dal Lake, have frozen.

The giggles and cries of hundreds of thousands of birds visiting Kashmir during their winter migration have long been a welcome noise to the region’s residents. They come from Eastern Europe, Japan and Turkey to feed and breed in the wetlands between the mountain peaks and the plateaus of the region.

“They are our guests,” Dar said on a freezing day as he tossed grain at bird feeders in the Hokersar wetland.

Officials say at least 700,000 birds have come to Kashmir in the past two months and expect more to arrive as temperatures improve in February.

In recent decades, the number of birds that have visited has decreased, which experts say is due to a combination of climate change and urban development. Construction around wetlands, accumulated garbage and climate change in the Himalayas is said to rob birds of traditional watering holes and nesting areas.

According to a recent study by the University of Kashmir, the Hokersar wetland has shrunk from almost 19 square kilometers (7 square miles) in 1969 to 12.8 square kilometers (5 square miles) today.

But Kashimir’s tense security situation has made it more difficult to address environmental issues in the famous Kashmir Valley – a vast collection of connected wetlands and waterways known for both idyllic views and flower-filled meadows, as well as his decades-long battle against Indian rule. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict since 1989.

The mountainous region of Kashmir, part of which is controlled by neighboring Pakistan, is traversed by hundreds of kilometers of barbed wire and patrolled by hundreds of thousands of Indian troops. It is claimed by both India and Pakistan as a whole.

Environmentalists urge residents to provide food to birds in freezing conditions.

“It is not only our official duty to feed them, but also a directive from God,” Dar said.