Ahmedabad: Greater Flamingos, which fly thousands of miles from Siberia to breed in the warm marshes of the Khadir region in Kutch, are landing into a death trap. In the past 10 days, at least 400 of these graceful birds have been electrocuted by high tension cables near their breeding grounds. D K Sharma, chief conservator of forests, admitted to at least 130 deaths, but locals and ornithologists have been recording much higher numbers. The flamingos have landed in record numbers this year, with one estimate putting their strength at five lakh, the highest ever. Experts said the deaths were taking place at night, when the birds disturbed by passing vehicles would fly straight into the wires. The 220-400 kilowatt cables can kill a human being instantly. Bharat Jethawa, census coordinator for Asian Water Birds, said, “It is difficult to estimate the number of deaths, but I saw dead flamingos at three or four places during a recent visit.” Bird flu-like virus killing crows The Centre has sent an alert to the Jharkhand government about a poultry infection, after a mysterious bird flu-like virus is believed to have killed between 500 and 1,000 crows in Jamshedpur, Bokaro and Hazaribagh. P 12 Kutch deaths 2nd instance of mass electrocution in Guj Deaths of 400 flamingos in the Khadir region in Kutch are the second instance of mass electrocution of the migratory birds in Gujarat this year. In June, a large number of flamingoes were similarly killed in Bhavnagar. In their recently published study titled ‘Flamingo mortality due to collision with high tension electric wires in Gujarat’, ornithologists Anika Tere and B M Parasharya mapped seven sites in Kutch, Bhavnagar and Jamnagar where high tension cables run close to flamingo sites. The forest department has written to the state government’s energy department, asking for the cables to be either insulated or put underground at places close to flamingo breeding grounds. TNN