Supposedly being a bird doesn’t get you ‘high’ enough. These wild parrots are in search for something that will take them higher and the unguarded opium fields in Neemach, Madhya Pradesh are just the thing.
The first of such evidence was reported in Chittorgarh in the state of Rajasthan in 2015. But apparently, the parrots are now slowly taking over other areas too. They have been found in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The smart birds sit on their high perches, waiting for a chance to swoop down on the poppy flowers and nibble at them. The farmers of the lands just have to turn their back and these birds come calling, without any cacophony, and silently take their treat.
Such is the addiction of the birds that they aren’t swayed by beating drums, bursting firecrackers or even being welted by stones. The parrots take the narcotic from the opened bulbs of the plants and retreat back to the higher branches where they sit in a dazed stupor or sleep for hours on an end or just fall to their dizzied deaths.
Though it is a state of blissful intoxication for the birds, the situation poses a serious threat to the farmers who stand answerable to the Indian government regarding the amount of opium being harvested and delivered. There have come warnings from the higher authorities and the farmers are finding it difficult to solve the problem.
Sobharam Rathod, an opium farmer, is assessing that the wild parrots are stealing almost 10% of their yield. “Usually, the parrots would make sound when in a group. But these birds have become so smart that they don’t make any noise when they swoop on the fields. The birds start chirping when they fly away with opium pods,” said Sobharam. “We have tried every trick possible to keep the birds at bay but these addicts keep coming back even at the risk of their life. Like we keep an eye on them, but they also keep an eye on us. The moment you lower your guard the army of parrots silently swoop onto your field and take away the bulbs.”
Such are the woes of the farmers of India – the parrots who like poppys!
