As owls face occult threat on Diwali, Uttarakhand officials step up vigil

Context

• Every year around Deepawali, these shy, mostly nocturnal birds of prey are trapped and hunted in large numbers.

Key Highlights

• In Uttarakhand, whose forests are home to many of the more than two dozen species of owl found in India.
• The Forest Department has sounded a statewide alert and officials have increased their vigil to try and foil poachers.

Why they are sacrificed?

• Occultists perform certain rituals with owls on Diwali, as tantriks, sorcerers, and practitioners of black magic use them in occult sacrifice.
• They also sacrifice the bird to appease Goddess Lakshmi, with the superstition that this would bring them wealth and prosperity
• Occultists also extract bones, claws, and feathers of owls and sell them illegally.

Major threats

• Human persecution is possibly among the principal threats.
• The cases of capturing owls for home rearing or stuffing are numerous.
• Insufficient state control over the use of toxic chemicals in agriculture.
• The encroachment of hunting grounds for agricultural purposes.

Conservation measures

• Many of the species of owl Listed in Appendix II of the CITES and in Appendix II of the Berne Convention.