MITHI, Oct 13: Villagers, in collaboration with a local NGO, have started covering transformers and wires with plastic pipes, empty water bottles and rubber tubes following death from electrocution of eight peacocks over the past five months in Malahnore Veena village.

The large-sized birds suffer electric shock and die instantly when they land on live wires or sit on transformers’ discs.

The villagers Genaram, Vinjhraj Singh, Piyaro Shivani and Kishore told this correspondent on Wednesday that they were so shocked at the death of eight birds in a space of five months that they started thinking of ways to avert their unnatural death and came up with the idea of covering the wires and transformers.

They planned to cover with plastic at least five to six feet electric wire on both sides of a pole or transformer, they said.

They said that SDO of Hesco Doongromal and his staff had extended them full cooperation.

The villagers urged the government and NGOs to work out a strategy for the protection of beautiful Thar peacocks.

A fairly large number of peacocks are found in most villages of Tharparkar district where villagers feed them grain in the courtyards of their houses.

Peacock is a fatal enemy of vipers and snakes and it is common fact that where there are peacocks there are fewer cases of snakebite.