Over 150 birds succumb to injuries from sharp kite strings in Gujarat

Over 150 birds have reportedly succumbed to the injuries from the sharp kite strings injuring several in an annual festival in Gujarat and Maharashtra states of western India. The officials in Surat told the media that the volunteers attempted to rescue the pigeons, or medically treat them but the birds managed to fly in spite of an injury. The reports suggest that 152 birds died as the sharp kite threads inflicted the wounds.

Read Peru Police Detains Man Trying To Smuggle Live Birds In Suitcase

The threads that are smeared in toxic powdered glass and glue mixture cripple many birds as they entangled in the strings and are wounded. Many birds are physically incapacitated to take a flight.

Read UP Police Arrests Man For Killing Birds, Two Absconding

Read Decline In Number Of Migratory Birds Visiting Maithon Dam

Birds succumb to injuries.

Harshil Shah, a member volunteer from bird rescue group told the media that their centres in Maharashtra and Gujarat received some 750 emergency calls on the occasion of Makar Sakranti reporting the injuries to the birds. He said that the rescue centre aimed at the immediate response to the emergency call to assist as many birds with the medical aid and rescue them, however, 20 per cent of the birds had succumbed to their injuries getting entangled in the strings.

Read UP Police Arrests Man For Killing Birds, Two Absconding

In Mumbai, a bird rescue camp reportedly treated injured owls, koels (cuckoo) as well as a squirrel injured from the kite threads. The sharp strings are also reported to have injured people on the vehicle. The Supreme Court had imposed a nationwide ban on the procurement, sale and use of glass powder-coated strings last year. A 35-year-old man was reportedly injured by glass-coated kite string in Paschim Vihar while he was on a scooter accompanied by his wife and a kite thread slit his throat. It was on occasion of Raksha Bandhan. He was rushed to the hospital but had succumbed to the injuries.

Read Bird Flu Outbreak In Chhattisgarh; Over 15,000 Birds Culled

Read Peru Police Detains Man Trying To Smuggle Live Birds In Suitcase