39 flamingos found dead in Ghatkopar, allegedly hit by landing Emirates plane

SY Rama Rao, Additional Chief Conservator of Forests (Mangrove protection cell), told The Indian Express, “We found 39 flamingos during a nightlong search operation and was called off at 11 am on Tuesday. In the meantime, we have also asked locals to alert us if they find any other affected birds.”

Rao said the forest department will now investigate to ascertain the cause of the accident. “We have appointed ACF Vikrant Khade as the investigating officer to ascertain what caused the hit. We will investigate whether the aircraft was flying on the correct route, and why the birds happened to be in its path etc. Our findings will determine the cause and how such an accident can be avoided,” said Rao.

The incident came to light when children playing on the side roads adjacent to Ghatkopar-Andheri Link Road began spreading word that it was “raining dead birds”. Thereafter, the locals found the flamingos with their carcasses spread across a radius of half a kilometre.

The flock of flamingos flying northward reportedly crashed with Emirates EK 508 Mumbai–Dubai flight which was to land by 9 pm. The crash occurred over Ghatkopar which is the landing path of several international flights. An Air Traffic Control official said pilots reported the bird strike after landing at 9.15 pm. “We found traces of the birds in the airplane’s fuselage but no carcasses were found,” he said.

Frantic calls

Pawan Sharma, honorary wildlife warden of Mumbai and founder of Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare (RAWW) who assisted in the rescue operations, told The Indian Express they started receiving frantic calls from Ghatkopar residents after 10 pm on Monday.

Sharma said, “We received the first call from someone who lived in a residential society in Ghatkopar, saying a flamingo, still alive, had been spotted in their complex. As we were preparing to dispatch our team, we got another call informing us that the flamingo had died and 8 more flamingos had been spotted. Soon after, we began getting calls from many people in Ghatkopar’s Pant Nagar who had spotted several dead flamingos.”

Sharma said 29 flamingos were recovered during the night, while more carcasses were recovered as the day set in. “However, the actual number of flamingos hit could be higher as we suspect that dogs may have taken them away, or they may have fallen in the mangrove forest. Furthermore, many could possibly have been hit by fast-moving traffic if they had fallen along Eastern Express Highway,” he added.

Since flamingos are a protected species under the Wildlife Protection Act (1972), the rescuers handed over the carcasses of the flamingos to the forest department conducting the necropsy.

The forest department took the carcasses to Airoli for a post-mortem examination to investigate further. A team of doctors from the Sanjay Gandhi National Park has been deployed for the cause and the reports are reportedly expected to be released in another 4-5 days.

Prashant Bahadure, Range Forest Officer, Mangrove Protection Cell, was not permitted to enter the airport to cross-check the aircraft with which the birds had collided. However, airport authorities revealed details of the Emirates flight scheduled to land around 9 pm.

Poor urban planning

Flamingos have never been spotted earlier anywhere around Ghatkopar. “The flamingos seemingly were flying to the north and had to change their path because of the high rises all across. It is poor urban planning that has claimed these lives,” said B N Kumar, Director, NatConnect Foundation.

“We found a bird lying dead in our building’s open podium. We picked the carcass and brought it down only to realise that many other flamingos had been killed in the tragic incident of a kind we had never witnessed earlier,” residents from Gurukripa Jayantam Co-Op Society said.

One of the 39 birds was rescued alive by locals but it succumbed to its injuries an hour later, likely due to internal trauma. “The bird had a visible injury on its claw, so we consulted local veterinarians who suggested some immediate treatment. We also called the local bird ambulance, but it never arrived, and the bird died right before us,” said Pradnesh Parkar, a resident of Laxmi Nagar.

“As per our study, given the height of their flight, this flock of pink birds was ready for their return to Kutch in Gujarat,” said Mrugank Prabhu, a researcher at Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) who has been studying the migration ecology of birds in and around Mumbai.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Stalin D, environmentalist and director of NGO Vanashakti, claimed that power lines passing through Thane Creek flamingo sanctuary, which have been laid at a great height, at which the flamingos also fly, is likely to have affected the migratory birds. “The power lines, which were laid even before procuring adequate permissions, pass through the sanctuary and have been built at a great height. It is likely the flamingos were trying to overpass these high power lines and got caught off guard and hit by the airplane.”

“Meanwhile, there is also the question of why the incident occurred in the first place. With CIDCO allowing construction along water bodies in Navi Mumbai, where the flamingos arrive, it is likely that someone was attempting to chase away the migratory birds at night and clear the land, which prompted the birds to flee during the night, which is when they are more prone to get hit,” alleged Stalin D, who has also written to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on the matter.

A long journey

According to experts, nearly 1-1.5 lakh flamingos start migrating from Kutch, Bhavnagar, and other scattered areas of Gujarat to Mumbai in November to search for food. After entering Mumbai, the flamingos settle into their feeding ground at the Thane Creek area, which stretches from Vitawa to Uran.

BNHS researcher Prabhu told The Indian Express, “While Gujarat is their breeding ground, Thane Creek area is their feeding ground. They start arriving in November and the peak season is between January and February. The flamingos primarily feed on the algae which grow on the mudflats, and start emerging when the water from the creek starts drying up during the low tides.”

Arriving in Mumbai at an average speed of 40-50 kmph, these flamingos comprise primarily two types of species — the greater flamingos and lesser flamingos. “While the lesser flamingos feed largely on black water and are restricted to the creeks, greater flamingos feed on sweet water lakes, dams etc,” added Prabhu.

The flamingos start flying back to their breeding grounds in Gujarat starting from May until July.

On the population of the flamingos, Prabhu said, “We have been studying their migratory patterns etc since the 2010s and their population of arrival has remained stable since 2017 at least. Even so, this is the first time that such an incident has occurred.”