More than 90 peafowl have died in Tharparkar since Feb, confirms wildlife official

HYDERABAD: Several reports have emerged on social media in recent days about peafowl being found dead on a daily basis at various locations in the Tharparkar desert. As The News contacted local journalists and officials from the Sindh wildlife department, they confirmed the deaths of more than 90 peafowl in the desert region in recent days.

Aijaz Talpur, deputy director of the wildlife department in Tharparkar, stated that they started receiving reports of peafowl dying on February 10. Following this, joint teams were formed with the poultry products department to visit different areas and assess the situation.

Talpur said that they visited nearly 70 villages and locations across Mithi, Islamkot, Chachro, Diplo, and Nagarparkar, where local residents showed them dead peafowl.

He confirmed that so far over 90 peafowl had died and more than 35 were sick. He added that medicines had been provided to residents in many areas to treat sick peafowl. However, locals claim that the actual number of deaths is higher than the reported number.

According to the deputy director, the wildlife department has only five employees and one vehicle in Tharparkar, and they were working with limited resources. When asked about the cause of death, Talpur explained that due to the lack of rainfall this winter, there was a severe water shortage in the desert, and the peafowl were dying from intense heat.