Thousands of migratory birds die mysteriously in Raj's Sambhar Lake

Sambhar (Raj): Thousands of migratory birds of about ten species were found dead around Sambhar Lake, the country's largest inland saltwater lake near Jaipur, sending shock waves among locals and authorities.

Officials said they suspect water contamination as one of the reasons for the deaths but were awaiting viscera test reports. Though the official toll was 1,500, locals claimed the number of dead birds could be as high as 5,000.

"We have never seen anything like that. Over 5,000 birds died mysteriously all over the place," 25-year-old Abhinav Vaishnav, a local bird-watcher, told PTI.

When Vaishanav went on a stroll along the edge of the lake on Sunday, he took the hundreds of dark lumps strewn across the marshy land for cow dung. But it didn't take him and his fellow bird watchers Kishan Meena and Pavan Modi to realise the lumps were bodies of hundreds of lifeless migratory birds.

Carcasses of hundreds of dead birds including plovers, common coot, black winged stilt, northern shovelers, ruddy shelduck, and pied avocet were scattered on the edge of 12-13 km of the catchment area of the lake, leading to a possible number of over 5,000, they said.

Forest ranger Rajendra Jakhar said a possible reason could be the hailstorm that hit the area a few days back. PTI