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| | The The Kolkata Network Network is not currently active and cannot accept new posts | | story of passenger pigeon | Views: 973 | | Apr 05, 2009 2:15 pm | | story of passenger pigeon | # | 
Mohammad Ahsan | | कल एक परिंदा मर गया , एक जिंदगानी मिट गई
किताब ए कुदरत में लिखी एक कहानी मिट गई
- ahsan / 5th april 2009.
This sh’er is homage to passenger pigeon, the last individual of which species died in 1901 in Frankfurt zoo.
The extinction of passenger pigeon is one of the most pathetic tales of how, man with his unmatched ingenuity at destruction, can put one of the most beautiful and innocent species on the platter of extinction.
Passenger pigeons in the early 19th century were found in North American continent in, just mind not in millions, but in trillions. This was a small beautiful pigeon and its meat was treated as delicacy. The bird was happy in its natural haven till the arrival of people with a mindset of conquest and colonization. Rest of the story is well guessed.
The birds lived in large flocks, sometimes so large that as when they flew, it was a column of half a mile long and of almost similar width. It was like cloud effect. They roosted on the trees in thick forest in such number that each single branch supported hundreds of birds sitting one over the other.
The birds were mercilessly shot mainly by army personnel for whom the killing of the bird became a sport. Completions were held as to how many birds can be dropped at with a single shot of a rifle. There were huge feastings and revelries over the meat of passenger pigeons. It was sheer merciless indiscriminate killing of a species which was found in plenty and treated as something infinite in number, but alas nothing is infinite. By the end of the last quarter of nineteenth century their number was reduced to only in thousands and subsequently in hundreds.
It was realized by the turn of nineteenth century that the bird was coming to an end but alas it was too late.
Some last ditch efforts were made in European zoos to save the bird from extinction at least by captive breeding but nothing worked. Passenger pigeon breathed its last in Frankfurt zoo in the year 1901.
The story of extinction of passenger pigeon is most pathetic and mind boggling. It also reflects human attitude towards other species. Man is generally selfish, callous and mostly indifferent towards the fate of other species and generally can’t look beyond its own pleasures and comforts, notwithstanding modern environmental preaching and movement. Human greed is infinite.
This is a very moving story which never escaped my mind in the last twenty five years and on this day I am paying my homage to this beautiful species which became the victim of unlimited rapacity of mankind.
There are similar tales of the extinction of other species like wild buffalo, dodo, pink headed duck, auk etc but this one is most unique.
a few years back story also once inspired me to think
अनंत कभी अनंत नहीं होता है
which line I used in my poem बाबू जी ने कहा था through a fictitious character 'बाबू जी'.
the complete line is like this
बाबू जी ने कहा था अनंत कभी अनंत नहीं होता है
mohammad ahsan
Lucknow/ 05-04-09
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