Bengaluru police bust online bird’s nest trade

Bengaluru: In a first arrest of its kind, the city cops arrested a youth for selling bird’s nests through an online selling company. The accused had posted pictures of bird’s nests online and the cops raided his house, recovering an astonishing 43 nests from his possession. The ad about a ‘baya weaver nest’ appeared on the www.olx.in webpage during the end of April, after which wildlife volunteers and the police jointly followed the posts on the webpage.

The accused, Gagan, 22, is a resident of Rajajinagar and was studying at an evening college. His income was from electrical work and selling the nests. The investigating officers admitted that they were not sure from where the nests were collected in such large numbers, or who were the suppliers. “The accused said that he collected the nests from Tumkur and Doddaballapur.

We have taken charge of his laptop and mobile phone to trace his network. After we arrested him there have been some more cases of persons selling wildlife contraband online and we intend to trace their network soon,” said a police officer from Cubbon Park police station. The officers also said that the nests looked like they were freshly picked up after killing the chicks. There was a smell of dead birds in the nest and they were stacked in a bag inside the house.

“The accused was quoting Rs 430 per nest if purchased in bulk, or Rs 500 for a single nest. We are tracing other traders’ online pages. Some are quoting ' 750 for the same nest. Bird experts have been consulted to check if there are similar practices in other parts of the state,” the officer said.

Bird experts pointed out that the ‘baya weavers’ are an important part of the ecosystem and they are known as polygamies. This species of bird is close to the of sparrow and finch families, but has a unique distinction as a ‘weaver’ due to its nesting pattern. The oval- shaped nest is often built by the male bayas along the river banks and nearby paddy fields. They build nests above the water to protect them from snake attacks. But it’s easy for human beings to grab them while climbing trees,” said a bird expert.