{"id":5143,"date":"2024-07-01T01:45:35","date_gmt":"2024-07-01T06:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/windycityparrot.com\/blog\/?p=5143"},"modified":"2024-07-01T01:45:35","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T06:45:35","slug":"indian-parrots-opium-addicts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.windycityparrot.com\/?p=5143","title":{"rendered":"These Indian Ringneck Parrots Are Opium Addicts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jaipur: Poppy farmers in Rajasthan’s Chittorgarh district are facing a unique problem.<\/span><\/p>\n

Come March, parrots descend on their fields in large numbers to slurp on the milk oozing out of cuts made in the pods to ripen the yield.<\/span><\/p>\n

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“Once they have their fill they sit on trees and sleep there for hours. Some of them can be seen circling or staggering before falling from the trees due to overdose of opium,” says Kishore Kumar Dhaker, a poppy farmer in Sukwara village of Chittorgarh.<\/span><\/p>\n

This story, in its entirety, appeared in\u00a0ZeeNews India<\/a><\/i>, March 8, 2015:<\/span><\/p>\n

Several parrots are also found dead on the ground, some killed in their somnolent state by predatory birds. There are other birds in the area, but parrots seem particularly to be attracted to the intoxicating produce. No one seems to know why.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Farmers are annoyed with the ‘winged thieves’ as the avian addiction eats into their profit. Moreover, the narcotics department officials look with suspicion at their explanation of a shortfall. According to the terms of their license, the low output can result in the permit being denied in the future. Poppy farming is a highly controlled activity since its product, morphine, commands very high prices in the illegal narcotics trade.<\/span><\/p>\n

Farmers say five to seven percent of their yield is eaten up by the parrots, despite precautions to frighten them away. “It is difficult to control these parrots. We have to spend hours in our fields to shoo them away,” says Bhairulal Jat, another poppy farmer from the same village.<\/span><\/p>\n