Birds. These guano bombers destroy everything, from our car windows and side mirrors to ill-fated fishing towns outside San Francisco. One day they’ll destroy the world. But for now, they’re here for our opium.
Opium-addicted parrots are causing havoc on poppy cultivation throughout the Indian states of Madhya Pradesh and Neemuch.
According to local reports, poppy farmers have been forced into 24 hour protection over their crops from theses poppy lusting thieves. Previous attempts of deterrence had included using fireworks and loudspeakers in what LiveScience refers to as “sonic warfare.” But these have thus far failed to deter the flocks of avian thieves from stealing truckloads of poppy crops.
“These opium-addicted parrots are wreaking havoc,” poppy farmer Nandkishore told NDTV. “We have tried making loud sounds and even use firecrackers to scare the birds. But nothing has helped.”
The opiates are contained in the latex, or sap, of the poppy pod. “One poppy flower gives around 20-25 milligrams of opium. But a large group of parrots feed on these plants around 30-40 times a day, and some even fly away with poppy pods,” said Nandkishore. “This affects the produce.”
Birds swoop in undetected onto the poppy fields in small batches of three to four, so as to not attract the attention of the farmers. Some birds have reportedly adapted their opium banditry; according to local reports, the parrots will wait for farmers to slit open the poppy pods, leaving their opium-filled latex vulnerable to raid. Some reports have also said parrots will snip the plant stalk and take it to-go to nearby trees.
These opium-addicted parrots are wreaking havoc.
Madhya Pradesh and Neemuch are located in the Malwa-Mewar belt, home to 38,000 of the 44,000 hectares of licensed opium cultivation in the country, and about 75 percent of India’s legal opium trade. The belt is one of the few places in the world where poppy is cultivated under the supervision of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) for legitimate medical needs.
Poppy farmers in the district told NDTV that groups of parrots feeding in the fields is resulting in a substantial loss in crops. The Indian government requires growers to pre-commit to cultivating a certain amount of poppy plants each year, which, if devoured by parrots, can significantly hurts the farmers’ profits.
The opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, is one of the oldest medicinal plants in the world, and is used to produce the two most common painkillers in the world: morphine and codeine. But according to researchers, opium has a different effect on parrots, one similar to what caffeine does on humans. Dr. R.S. Chundawat, an Indian opium specialist in Mandsaur, told Daily Mail that, while the narcotic in the poppy seeds may have the same effect on parrots as coffee and green tea has on humans, the parrots quickly develop a chronic addiction, one that functions the same for parrots as it does for humans.
According to a 2018 article in DNA India, the opium-munching birds have been observed crashing into tree branches and “lying in the fields in a daze,” until the narcotic effects wore off.
This isn’t the first time Indian poppy farmers have had to deal with opium-addicted parrots. Last year, Indian media reported that such birds were raiding poppy fields in Rajasthan, and back in 2015, DNA India covered similar cases of poppy raids in Chittorgarh and Pratapgarh.
Calls from the online community have made suggestions for putting the problem to rest; buying swathes of hawks to guard the fields, maybe putting a nets over the poppy plants. Who knows what measures the poppy farmers of Central India will ultimately take.
One thing’s for sure — if the purchase and armament of hawks is pursued, there is grounds for concern if they ever taste the opium. The last thing the world needs is opium-addicted hawks flying around.
Top photo by Madelyne Ashworth.
