A social worker along with the fire department on Friday rescued a chick of Indian Grey Hornbill, whose both claws were entangled in a strong web of several materials inside its nest on a silver oak tree in Sector 18B.
According to witnesses, the baby bird was desperately trying to come out from the nest, but could not as its claws were entangled in the nest. The high-pitched squealing sounds of the chick and a pair of hornbills, which appeared to be parent pair, attracted the attention of passerby around 10.30 am. A double-folded ladder was used to reach till the hollow-shaped nest.
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“I found both the claws of the panic-stricken chick were injured. We used a knife to cut the strings. I presume the chick stuck its claws into the stuff gathered by her parents inside the nest,” Leading Fire Officer (LFO), Vinod Bishnoi, who led the rescue team, said. He added that while they were nursing the baby hornbill, a pair of birds kept making loud noise. “Later, the chick was able to move, took a flight, and sat on a tree branch,” Bishnoi further said.
Kusum, a social worker and resident of Sector 45 said that a passerby called her and made her aware of the pity condition of the bird. “I rushed to the spot. It was a heart-touching scene. The loud and penetrating calls of the chick and a pair was sounds like yelling. I called the emergency number 112 and hardly after eight to ten minutes, a fire brigade vehicle reached from Sector 17 fire station,” Kusum added.
She said that the operation lasted almost 45 minutes. Kusum also revealed that she was not aware of the species of the baby bird, and later an onlooker told them that she is Indian Grey Hornbill – state bird of Chandigarh.
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“This rescue operation can not be said a complete operation. The chick was injured. She should have been handed over to veterinary facility,” a birdwatcher said.
Indian grey hornbill (scientific name: Ocyceros birostris) name is derived from its unique horn-like beak. (Representational image/Express photo) 
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