This bird disappeared after flying 2766 km

My city receives a lot of migratory birds in this season. These birds visit my State every year after travelling thousands of kilometers.

Unfortunately, for some years the number of these beautiful visitors are on decline.

Actually, these birds are dying here after consuming food grains containing pesticides. As many as 37 demoiselle cranes were found dead in a village in nearby Jodhpur district. (Refer news here).

Last Thursday another crane was found dead in Jaipur. But this bird was tagged (T-51) by the Crane Working Group of Eurasia (CWGE) as part of the ‘1,000 cranes project’. T-51 was among 40 cranes who fell critically ill on 31st December. 19 of them have died so far.

T-51 flew from Mongolia's Khurgan lake on July 27 and covered a distance of 2766 km and met the unfortunate death here. The scientists back home were hoping and waiting for safe return of T-51 but destiny had something else ...destiny? No, the bird was practically poisoned to death by pesticides easily available and used in India but banned in the US and across Europe. (As reported here.

Rajasthan State is understood to be the most hospitable State in India. It's also popular with its tagline padharo mhare des (meaning "welcome to my country"). But is this the way we should welcome kurjans (local word for demoiselle cranes)?

These incidents raise some very serious questions:

How should we produce our own food?

If our food can kill and poison these creatures, would it make us healthy?