Man dedicates his life to protecting wild birds

VĨNH LONG — While it is said that “land is as precious as gold”, a  七 四-year-old farmer has decided to leave  二0,000sq.m of land alone to give storks a home to nest and lay eggs.

Lê Văn Chìa, a resident from Tân Mỹ Co妹妹une in Vĩnh Long Province’s Trà Ôn District, has been called crazy for forgoing profit from the land over the past  一 四 years.

“It was in  二00 六 when dozens of black-crowned night-herons appeared in my garden. I thought that they would take a rest and then fly away. However, they didn’t and the bird population started increasing,” Chìa recalled.

“After seeing flocks of birds settling here, we decided to do something to help them stay longer and protect them,” he said, adding that he planted cajeput trees so the birds could nest.

The land, covered with various kinds of plants, turns white when storks and other types of birds Asian Koel land every afternoon.

His family has suffered economic losses to provide safe shelter for birds as they had no earnings from the garden.

At first, the herons nested on longan trees, which reduced the yield of a tree by  二0- 三0 per cent. As time went by, the number of flocks of storks and other birds that arrived at the garden increased, leaving the garden filled with longan trees completely damaged.

“In the old days, when a flock of birds didn’t settle here, the income from longan and mangosteen trees was enough for the family to make ends meet and their children’s schooling. 

“Because of this flock of birds, my family lost hundreds of millions đồng per year just to keep them peaceful,” he was quoted by Nông Nghiệp Việt Nam (Việt Nam Agriculture) online newspaper.

Chìa said many people have advised him to catch the birds and sell them to ease his family’s hardship but he refused to do so.

“Although I am poor, I never think of selling them for money.”

In addition to guarding the birds against hunters, he also seek food for them as they were his children.

“Whenever I have free time in the morning, I manage to collect fish and shrimp for food for my family as well as for the birds.”

Chìa said that he understood the birds so well that he knew exactly when each kind of bird would leave and their customs.

Challenges

From the day Chìa turned his orchard garden into a resettlement for birds, his life seemed to get harder.

He has to watch day and night because some people would try and sneak in to steal the baby birds or shoot the adults.