The Peafoul

Where sits your blue-throated friend,
whom my dearest used to teach to dance,
clapping her hands with jingling bangles,
at the close of day.

Kalidasa (Meghadutam)

It’s India’s national bird, graceful and majestic, its metallic blue-green plumage a source of inspiration for poets and painters over millennia. The Indian peafowl extensively adorns religious texts and iconographies, shown dancing with Radha and Krishna, who also wears a single peacock feather on his head. And the bird is also the subject of street art and pop culture, given exalted status in Bollywood songs as a metaphor for unbridled joy. And there is even a city called Morena in Madhya Pradesh which is named after the mor, the Hindi word for peacock.

But all is not well with the Indian peafowl— Pavo cristatus—despite their growing numbers, even in areas far from their original breeding grounds. And worse still, the peafowl is hardly discussed in the context of the growing human-animal conflict, though they are frequently killed for destroying standing crops or for their meat and exotic feathers. Though nationwide numbers are not known, a 2018 survey in Rajasthan—a prime peafowl belt—had put their numbers in the state at 6.7 lakh, a number widely contested by activists.

Provided safeguards under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, killing or illegal trade of the peafowl can invite imprisonment of up to seven years, along with a fine of not less than Rs 10,000. Trade in tail feathers collected legally are exempted. Experts say that high mortality rates in some areas point to poaching.

The good news is that peafowl population, which was on the decline in the 1990s mostly due to poaching, has increased sizeably over the last two decades, aided by stringent action by forest officials and police force and also by changing agriculture landscapes. Once native to Rajasthan, Haryana and peripheries of Delhi besides some other parts of India, peafowls are now found even as far as Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

However, for conservation officials and activists, the increase in peafowl numbers and their spread have also become a double-edged sword. Farmers in peafowl breeding areas of the country say they lose crops in large tracts of farmland when the birds descend in large numbers to feed on standing crops, besides freshly-sown seeds and tender saplings.

Kanhaiya Lal Sihag, the national vice president of Consortium of Indian Farmers’ Associations, grows a range of crops in Bikaner, Rajasthan, where, he says, peafowls are a major menace next only to the nilgai and deer. In the case of peafowl, farmers beat drums and other utensils to drive away the birds but they return again. He says that farmers cannot use stones to scare the birds as the projectiles can kill the peafowls and lead to penal action. But some farmers are known to kill peafowls, frustrated over losing their crop. Besides Bikaner, other districts like Jaisalmer, Barmer, Jodhpur, Ganganagar and Churu are also facing a major challenge due to the growing conflict between farmers and the peafowl population. In the past one year, several cases have been filed against farmers in Sri Dungargarh, Bikaner district, for injuring or killing peacocks.

Sihag says that the law has made it difficult for farmers to save their crops. “Other than in Bharatpur and Alwar, where the peafowl are hunted on the sly for their meat, you will find that peafowl population has risen in the last few years,” claims Sihag. “Farmers are helpless, as neither the central nor the state government takes any action to curb the menace of the peafowl, which flies off sensing any threat but return soon from their low perch of the trees in the vicinity.”

Besides pulses, peafowls also eat fruits, tomatoes and chillies, says Hindu Singh Tamlor, a farmer and member of an elected rural organisation in Barmer. Though western Rajasthan has a smaller peafowl population compared to other parts of the state, farmers are still forced to employ extra labour during daytime to safeguard their crops. Farmers’ groups have been striving to raise the issue in Parliament to find a solution without harming the peafowl population given the religious sentiments associated with the bird.

Rajasthan’s principal chief conservator of forests G.V. Reddy proudly speaks about the “remarkable increase” in the number of peafowl in the state. And he is also convinced that reports of peacock and farm conflict don’t hold true anymore. “There may be some incidents of killings, primarily by tribes like Kanjar and Bawariya, who eat peacock meat,” Reddy adds.

The demand for white peacock meat is not restricted to a few communities in Rajasthan but also high in states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala, two states which have seen an exponential rise in the number of the species in recent years. The demand for peafowl meat rises in winter.

Saeed Anvar Ali M.V, a masters student in wildlife science at Aligarh Muslim University, says that two years back he had found that the population of the national bird at the Choolannur Peafowl Sanctuary in Kerala had increased by over 20 per cent since 2007 when the 3.4 sq km reserve was established. “The birds don’t recognise the boundaries of the sanctuary and paddy fields around it face considerable damage due to the peafowl,” adds Ali, who did a study of the sanctuary for his bachelor’s degree in zoology at Victoria College in Palakkad.

M. Mani, general secretary of a farmers’ group in Kerala, says the cost of farming goes up after peafowls damage sapling or seeds as it necessitates re-sowing, which can be a laborious process in the case of paddy. Early this year, a couple of farmers were held in Palakkad, Kerala, for stoning peafowls to death and for poisoning the birds with pesticides. It is ironical, claim farmers, that those opting for organic farming are facing greater challenge from peafowls.

However, not all believe that everything is hunky-dory with the Indian peafowl. Environmentalist Babulal Jaju alleges that contrary to government claims there is no credible data to show a rise in peafowl numbers. Despite his PIL, filed in Rajasthan seeking yearly census of peafowls in every district, Jaju alleges that no proper study is being conducted, not only in the state but across the country. “With no restrictions on the transportation of peacock feathers and no proper action being taken against violators, illegal culling is continuing and demand for products made of peacock feathers continues to be met,” says Jaju.

Ranjit Singh Raju, convenor of a farmers’ association at Sri Ganganagar, also feels that peafowl numbers in the state may well be on the decline. Describing peacocks as a “beautiful menace”, Raju says, “Compared to stray animals and other birds, this species is less in number and is decreasing every year.” The farm leader attributes the decline in numbers to their consumption of farm produce like moong that are sprayed with fertilisers and pesticides several times before harvest.

Experts and activists agree that going organic may help save peafowl, but it cannot be a solution to keep out these birds just like other species.  Experts have called for sanctuaries to safegaurd the exotic bird. More awareness creation could also help farmers co-exist with peafowls. Despite their problems, farmers in several states admitted that the damage inflicted by these birds is less than that caused by other animals like wild boars, nilgai, or deer.