Bird watchers know that all Flycatchers catch bees, wasps, dragonflies, butterflies and other insects as part of their diet. (Indeed, so do many other birds.)

So…you’d expect the personnel manning the Butterfly Park in the Bannerghatta Zoo area to know that as well. And, when they see a bird catching a butterfly, they would just catch it with a net and release it elsewhere, wouldn’t you?

You’d be…’dead’ wrong.

That’s the right word to use in the circumstances.

Srikant VK writes:

"The employers of the butterfly park saw the flycatcher catching some butterflies,the only crime this innocent little bird did was to fill its belly by eating butterflies. They cud have caught it through the bird net and released it but they immediately shot it with the Air gun. This was witnessed by friend and another student who is doing some studies on butterflies. They objected before the act but the zoo keepers did not bother to listen.

I feel that it is insane of zoo keepers to do this. Are they instructed to do so? It looks as if the gun is used for this purpose only. Can’t they think of any better alternative ? We need to stop this or we are going to lose many birds in that particular region. Can someone take this up with the respective authorities ?

He’s also sent a picture of the picture of the dead bird. This was taken by Ritesh Singh Siddharth, one of the two people who tried to protest the killing of the bird.

Would you like to know what a male Asian Paradise Flycatcher looks like? It’s one of the more spectacular birds we have:

When are our Forest Department personnel going to learn to respect wildlife, and when are they going to be held accountable for such wanton acts of cruelty?

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