There is a video clip doing the rounds on social media of a Great Indian Hornbill being beaten on the head with a stick and then trampled and strangulated. It is difficult to tell the exact location of the incident but the language spoken by the people in the video indicate that it must be somewhere in Wokha district, neighbouring Mokokchung.
It can be safely assumed that the Wildlife Division of the department concerned is cognizant of the video being circulated and it is hoped that it will swing into action immediately. In this day and age, tracing the origin of a video clip is as convenient as shooting and circulating it. If the authorities cannot trace the origin of the video in question, then they must quit their jobs.
All Hornbill birds are categorized under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 that provides absolute protection and offences under Schedule 1 are prescribed the highest penalties, from being punishable with 3-7 years of imprisonment and a fine of at least 10,000 Rupees under section 51(1) of the Act. The latest viral video is sufficient to prove that much remains to be done in Nagaland when it comes to generating awareness on wildlife laws.
Now, we often hear stories of how the famed Hornbill birds would roost in our forests during the olden days, up until the not so distant past. Can we manage to invite them back again? Hornbill birds usually roost in couples and it is believed that the bird seen in the video was not alone.
Amidst the doom and gloom, however, it gives us hope that the birds would return back to our land if only we would welcome them (but certainly not as seen in the video). To recall, there were sightings of the Hornbill birds in 2016 at Minkong and in 2017 at Namen Min, Khar. They will come back if we let them.