Since protection is afforded by the villagers, there is little threat to the birds in the village. One of the major reasons that the birds roost in the village is the presence of a number of traditional irrigation tanks/wetlands within 20 km radius of the village. These include Kallambella tank, Handenahalli/ Lakshmisagar tank, Kaggaladu big tank and Hosur tank. These tanks provide easy availability of food for the birds.
The real threat to these birds comes when the birds are feeding at these tanks. In 1999, when the birds made news in the local papers, there was a rise in the number of poaching incidents at these tanks. Based on the information from WANC and the highlighting of this issue in the local news papers by WANC, action was initiated by the late M.N.Narayanaswamy, local deputy conservator of forests (DCF) and Suresh K Mohammad, Superintendent of Police to prevent such acts. A number of unlicensed guns were seized from the area. Meanwhile, a group of 30 village youths came together to form the Bannada Kokkre Rakshana Samithi (a committee to save the painted storks) for action against poachers. Since then, there have been some new incidents of poaching in 2007 at Lakshmisagara wetland and action needs to be taken again.
When the place made headlines in 1999, there was a big influx of tourists to see the birds. These urban tourists would bring polluting vehicles and plastics, which disturbed the environment of the village. Tourist activities have been controlled to a certain extent by display boards describing a set of ‘dos and donts’. These boards have been put up by the local forest department. The village youth ensure that the rules related to bird protection are enforced and birds are not disturbed.