Once Poachers, Now Protectors: How a Small Odisha Village Became a Haven for 3 Lakh Migratory Birds

For anyone en route to the village of Mangalajodi in Odisha, birdsong forms a beautiful GPS. But what is now characteristic of this village — its identity as a bird haven — was once a reason for its bad reputation. 

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You see, for generations, the villagers hunted the birds, both native and migratory; none were spared: from the grey-headed swamphen, black-winged stilt, red-wattled lapwing, whiskered tern, little cormorant, glossy ibis, little egret, purple heron, black drongo, barn swallow, white-breasted waterhen and common sandpiper, among others. 

Around the 1990s, the birds faced a dual threat, along with the locals’ poaching, the neighbouring restaurants too had begun to spot an opportunity in the birds and featured them on their menus. 

Tempted by the money they would earn by hunting down the birds for the restaurants, the locals laced the vegetation with furadan, a hazardous pesticide. Thousands of birds fed on the plants and dropped dead overnight. Their corpses were sold in the meat markets of Odisha. 

The birds of Mangalajodi were doomed. But, in 1998, a non-profit organisation ‘Wild Orissa’ stepped in. 

Their advocacy led to poachers turning into skilled naturalists, wielding their knowledge of the birds towards the latter’s protection. Tourism led to an uptick in their business. Within two decades, poaching was eliminated, and the birds began making a comeback to the wetland, which is part of the Chilika lagoon, one of the six Ramsar sites in Odisha, and classified as an Important Bird Area (IBA).

A lesson in conservation and in how hunters can turn into protectors, Mangalajodi now welcomes over 300,000 wetland birds — black tailed godwits, black winged stilts, plovers, and waterfowl, among others — every year. 

This story is part of a content series by The Better India and Roundglass Sustain.

All pictures courtesy Roundglass Sustain