HYDERABAD: The festival of kites turned out to be a nightmare for birds as 42 pigeons have died till Monday while 180 injured birds were rescued by animal welfare groups. Among the 180 injured rescued are five parrots, eight sparrows, two crows and one koyal while 65 birds were in a serious condition, said Mahesh Agarwal, general secretary, Sahayog NGO.
“Every year, during kite flying, birds like pigeons, parrots, sparrows, crows, black kites and barn owls suffer injuries after being caught in the glass-coated threads (manja) leading to fractures, wing cuts and nerve injuries. In the the past week, four teams of animal activists have rescued 180 birds and after giving them treatment, the birds were released at the Parade Grounds in Secunderabad,” he added.
“People use glass manja so the threads don’t break but what they do not realise is the same manja gets entangled in trees where birds nest and creates problem for them,” he informed.
Workers at animal welfare groups say the manja is so fine that birds cannot see it in flight and hence their wings or throats get cut. Experts said government bodies including the GHMC should take initiatives to remove the entangled kites from trees and power lines.
Mahesh said the positive note this year is that the number of injuries and fatal incidents had dwindled by about 10 per cent. According to the NGO People For Animals, there are about 5 lakh pigeons in and around Hyderabad.
Most of the birds killed or injured are mainly from the Old City and places like Musheerabad, Nallakunta, Narayanguda, Bowenpally, Nampally and Abids, where there are old buildings.