Sultanpur National Park shut down after migratory birds found dead

Forest and wild life department on 11 January 2015 shut down the Sultanpur National Park for one week. The park was shut down after 47 migratory birds were found dead in the park on 10 January 2015.

The dead birds included Eurasian coots (36) and common moorhen (9) and one each of spot-billed duck and jungle babbler.

Deaths of these birds had triggered fears of bird flu outbreak in the park but real cause of their death is not clear. The real cause is not known because the common feature of flu was not spotted in any of these birds. In case of bird flu, the legs of birds develop red spots.

To know the real cause, samples of the dead birds have been sent to the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal to verify the real cause of deaths.

About Sultanpur National Park
Sultanpur National Park, a bird sanctuary on Gurgaon-Farrukh Nagar Road is a seasonal wetland that attracts around 200 species of migratory birds every year between October and March from Europe, Siberia and Central Asia. The park is also a home of several species of insects, amphibians, reptiles and mammals.

The park is located on the Sultanpur Jheel (an area of 1.21 sq. Km.) and the jheel was accorded Sanctuary status on 2 April 1971 under section 8 of the Punjab Wildlife Preservation Act of 1959. The decision of granting the Sanctuary status was taken after the 1969 Conference of the International Union of Conservation of nature and Natural resources (IUCN) in New Delhi.

The status of the park was upgraded to National Park under Section 35 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 on 5 July 1991. Simultaneously the area was increased to 1.42 sq. Km.

The National Park has been carved out of the land of Sadhrana, Chandu, Sultanpur and Saidpur villages.