The HEAL field team is spending long hours across the wetlands and fields of central West Bengal right now. It is a time when thousands of migratory birds fly over the fields of central West Bengal and get trapped to be sold as meat.
We are watching for mist nets, dismantling traps, rescuing birds, and keeping an eye on poaching hotspots.
But a part of our work also happens in classrooms.
Over the past weeks, the team has been travelling from school to school across the region, conducting anti-poaching awareness sessions with students at Podda B.T. High School, Parulia U.S. Vidya Bhavan, Beldanga High School, Bechandrapur School and several others.
The children listening to these sessions grow up in the very communities where this trapping takes place. Some of them have seen nets in nearby fields. Some may have family members involved in seasonal bird hunting.
Which is why these conversations matter.
It’s encouraging to see the students ask questions about migration, about where these birds come from, and why they are caught. When they learn that birds flying thousands of kilometres from distant countries are being trapped in their own surroundings, it changes how they see their landscape.
While removing nets can save birds today, awareness among the next generation is what can help stop the cycle in the future.
Your support helps us continue this work on the ground.
₹2,500 covers fuel costs for one anti-poaching squad for a month.
₹6,000 supports an outreach drive in vulnerable villages.
₹8,000 funds a permanent metal awareness signboard influencing hundreds.
₹14,000 keeps a 3-member anti-poaching squad active in the field for one month.
(Minimum three squads are needed during peak migration.)
If we want the next generation to inherit fields alive with birds, we need to act now.
Stand with HEAL.
Support now: