Painted storks, pelicans, barn owls among over 600 birds injured by kite strings

A coordinator at the centre Dhrumil Shah said the JCT had received two booted eagles — one from the airport area and one from Bavla — a rare migratory species; and four barn owls. By Thursday afternoon, the centre had registered 612 injured birds.

“The permanently disabled birds are kept here with us and not released as they are not fit for the wild”, said Shah.

“JCT is trying to take proactive steps by approaching courts on the use of chinese manjhas,” said Shah, showing the samples of Chinese manjhas that were retrieved from the injured birds.

According to Dr Pandya, wing injuries are the most common. “It often needs to be treated surgically, after recovery we release it in the wild. It can take up to 15-20 days to recover. Some birds get fractured as they fall from a great height and also their stomach area called ‘crop’ can get cut and injured due to which the bird is unable to eat and can eventually die,” said Dr Pandya.

“Some birds have to stay with us for even eight months. This is the case for migratory birds, as they visit India till the migratory season – February or March, by the time they recover from injuries their flocks have already started their journey back home. So, we have to keep them till the next migratory season,” he said.

On Thursday afternoon, six-seven painted storks were brought in for treatment by a rescue team. “Since the last four days we have been getting calls from Nal Sarovar village, near Sanand, about migratory birds being injured and in need of urgent care due to Chinese manjha. We are informed that those strings have injured their legs or wings and we travel to Sanand to bring the migratory birds to the JCT centre for treatment. We have rescued more than 20 migratory birds in the last four days and there are seven more birds on the way to the centre for treatment.  We have been informed that 4-5 painted storks have been dying on a daily basis in the Nal Sarovar area, due to kite string injuries. Only JCT and the Bodakdev Wildlife Care Centre, run by the government, are the places we can take them too for bigger treatments, from all small cities and districts around Ahmedabad. This year more migratory birds have been injured in comparision to last year,” said Meet Shah, part of Shree Ahmedabad Jain Active Group (SAJAG) team, providing rescue services at 18 areas in Ahmedabad.

Nal Sarovar, the bird sanctuary, about 60 kms from Ahmedabad, is where most migratory birds fly in during the winter, and can be found on stretches through Sanand, Bavla and southeastwards of the city.

Following the storks, a barn owl, bat, kite and eagle were also brought in for treatment.

“From January 1, we have had more than 1,900 injured birds coming in. About 2,000 rescue volunteers are working in Ahmedabad to bring the injured birds to us. Birds are brought by more than 43 bird rescue centres and NGOs in West Ahmedabad and other places in Gujarat. As the awareness increases so does the number of cases registered. This helps us in saving as many lives as we can. It wouldn’t have been possible without the efforts of the staff, volunteer. We are able to rescue about 86% of the birds brought in due to the huge team we have,” said Janak Nayak, a coordinator at JCT. “It wouldn’t have been possible without the efforts of 120 volunteers, 65 doctors, and 100 staff members of JCT – nearly 300 people.”

Dr Pandya gives out instructions to veterinary students who have come from Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand: “Do not pour water over the injured bird when you find them… it can cause hypothermia. Instead, put socks over their head to cover their vision as they are not used to the close proximity of humans and they put pressure on the area that is injured with a cloth to stop the bleeding. Do not pressurize the ribcage by holding them too tightly. These small steps can save their lives.”

One of the students, Sakshi, said, “Flying of kites is something that should be avoided especially during early morning and sunset when birds fly in huge numbers. We treat hundreds of birds in a day and the sheer number and the pain if witnessed by anyone would affect them emotionally. We are able to bear it because at the end of the day saving the lives of the birds keeps us going and makes us want to work even harder.”

(Hemaxi Agrawal is an intern at the Ahmedabad office of The Indian Express)