By News Desk
Melbourne: Emu (Australia’s national bird) farming in Gujarat seems to have gone wrong with 30 of the birds found abandoned near the Nal Sarovar bird sanctuary, about 60 kilometers from Ahmedabad city. A report in the Indian Express says last week about 20 of these birds were caught by locals and officials of the forest department on and shifted to an animal shelter in Ahmedabad.
The report says, “An estimated 30-36 of these birds were physically transported in a vehicle before being abandoned at Nal Sarovar, forest officials at the sanctuary said. Eight of these birds were found dead, while some others are believed to be still at large, roaming in and around the sanctuary.”
“Emus are being abandoned all across Gujarat as the farming of these birds is turning less productive and many of these birds are facing health issues. Last year in August, 30 emus were abandoned in Jambughoda forests in the Panchmahals district,” said a forest department official who did not wish to be named. Similarly, some of these birds were also found abandoned near Gandhinagar.
“It takes at least Rs 8 lakh to set up an emu farm consisting of 10 pairs of emu birds. The annual cost to feed such a number of emus is over Rs 50,000. Experts connected with the emu farming business point out that too many Gujarati entrepreneurs got into commercial breeding without really understanding the business,” the report says.
