NATURE CLUB SURAT

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 Forthcoming Activities

Monsoon Camp   Dangs

Nature Education Camp - Dangs 2008

Wild Venture Camp Dandeli, Karnataka

Bird Watching Trip Nalsarovar 2009

Himalayan Experience camp Manali 2009

Nature Art & Craft Workshop, Saputara

  Opportunities @ Nature Club Surat

Call of Indian Birds Vol-1,2,3 & 4

Book on "Amphibians of Gujarat"

 

Nature Club Surat: Always For Innocent Birds and Animals

KIILER MANJA

 

What do you see if you look out of your metropolitan high rise flat window?? The opposite building, or maybe a pigeon or two, flying by…NO at least not during this time of the year. Around this time you will see tangled threads, torn kites and may be a corpse of a bird killed by the razor sharp thread of kites hanging on a cable till it actually dries up and falls down. This is a usual sight during the kite flying festival of Uttrayan. But a small effort started by Nature Club Surat turned into a full fledged movement throughout the city during this Uttrayan festival.

 

Nature Club Surat has been doing the work of rescuing injured birds all throughout the year but it really becomes hard to handle as the number of birds getting injured by the razor sharp ‘Surti Manja’ raise immensely during the festival of Uttrayan. And a bigger team of volunteers is required to respond quickly to all those injured birds inching close to death. With a team of more than 65 volunteers, Nature Club Surat has been able to rescue a thumping 195 birds in just three days from within the city. Out of the 195, around 180 were pigeons with a damaged wing, thanks again to the killer ‘Manja’.

 

But what were even more shocking was the other birds that were rescued. Birds which are usually never noticed, never seen and yet getting tangled in the threads. Amongst them were an Egret, a Parakeet, Kite, a Sakra, a White Breasted Water hen, Peahen, 2 Fruit Eating Bats, a Grass Owl and two Barn Owls. A total of four collection centers were set up in different areas of the city from where the birds were classified and sent to rehabilitation centers. As pigeons are prone to viral diseases two separate rehabilitation centers were setup, one for the domestic birds and the other for wild birds.

 

It was a next to impossible task for the volunteers as they had to literally reach the places where no one else can reach. The whole team of volunteers was geared up with primary first aid kits and a channel of distribution was set up in such a way that a bird reaches the rehabilitation centre within minutes of its rescue. This is reflected in the overall mortality rate as the total mortality is of 5 birds, which is lesser than 3% of the total birds rescued.     

Most of these birds are still at the rehabilitation centers and are recapturing from their injuries. Let’s hope that a day comes soon when all of them can again sing fly……

 

Nature Club Surat

Help lines

Injured Bird and Animal Rescue

98254-80908, 99797-30036

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Last modified: July 09, 2008