Birds battle locust menace in Xinjiang
Print Edition
AN army of birds and chickens has been mobilized in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to combat a plague of locusts along the China-Kazakhstan border.
Owing to continued drought and scorching heat, locusts have infested more than 392,000 hectares of pasture in Tacheng Prefecture, the local animal husbandry bureau said.
Since mid-june, it has set up nests in mountainous areas and grassland to attract more than 50,000 migrating rosy starlings, a bird that preys on locusts and grasshoppers.
The number of locusts per square meter has dropped from 40 to two in areas the birds have visited. The starlings have so far won the battle in the area of 17,000 hectares where locusts were most rampant, the bureau said.
Meanwhile, 85,000 chickens have been sent out to battle the locusts. The chickens, raised by local herdsmen, have stopped the spread of locusts in a further 30,000 hectares of land in Tacheng.
China once largely sprayed insecticides to eradicate locusts. However, with the realization that protecting the environment is important, it has encouraged the use of natural measures, including birds.
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