(New Delhi) An Egyptian vulture, seriously injured a few months earlier, is about to return to the skies of Delhi, after being treated by two brothers who rescue the thousands of birds of prey mutilated by accident each year, often by sons of kites.
Posted at 10:27
The bird “was injured in the left wing by a kite,” Salik Rehman, assistant veterinarian at Wildlife Rescue, an organization founded in 2010 by brothers Nadeem Shehzad and Mohammad Saud, told AFP.
He had to undergo “surgery, stitches and three weeks of dressings”, specifies the young man.
The Egyptian vulture is an endangered species of which there are less than 38,000 specimens left in the world, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
“A colony of Egyptian vultures live in Ghazipur,” he says, referring to the horrifying 70-meter-high dump that plagues east Delhi. Raptors are attracted there by the abundance of waste that slaughterhouses and poultry and fish markets dump there every day.
cripple chart
The bird of about four years, cream plumage, all ruffled head, remains docile under Salik’s arm before regaining freedom in a wooded park north of Delhi.
Barely landed, the vulture, with its long hooked yellow beak, rises in the air, under the gaze of a forest ranger, official witness of its release.
“Some species are subject to strict legislation which states that they must be released in a place of wildlife such as a sanctuary or a protected forest, in front of a forest ranger,” explains Nadeem Shehzad, 44.
The rescued birds spend their convalescence in a large aviary on the roof of his facility, where a handful of Egyptian vultures stand out among more than 70 raptors, mostly black kites.
Delhi has the highest concentration of black kites in the world, the expert adds, observing the strange array of crippled birds. They save several thousand a year.
According to Nadeem, power lines, fishing nets, collisions with vehicles, but above all, the wires of kites are the main causes of bird mortality and injury.
On the ground floor, in cramped cages, nearly a dozen black kites, with characteristic notches, suffer in silence. Sitting at the treatment table, Mohammad Saud examines each bird Salik hands him and disinfects their wounds.
birds of doom
” Most […] were mutilated by kite strings,” Nadeem continues, as Mohammad struggles with a string still wrapped around a raptor’s wing, bare humerus. Some wires are sometimes coated in glass and extremely dangerous, he explains, “we saw some clean sliced bones”.
“It’s Mohammad who takes care of the birds,” says Nadeem, “we work with an external vet who comes […] once or twice a week “.
It is sometimes too late to save them, like this eagle of the steppes that Mohammad cares for without illusion.
“He’s going to die in a few days, his wound is already gangrenous,” he said, pointing to the discolored edges of the gash.
The organization, which lives mainly on donations, is sorely lacking in funds, a victim in particular of superstition, according to Nadeem, because “many believe that raptors and crows bring bad luck”.
Charity also depends on ideology, vegetarian veterinarians take a dim view of raptors feeding on meat. These rejections motivated the creation of Wildlife Rescue.
In Gurgaon, on the outskirts of Delhi, the tiny Charity Bird Hospital, of Jaina obedience, strictly vegetarian, collects each year, in its aviary upstairs, thousands of injured or sick pigeons, doves and other doves, only inhabitants did not have the heart to give up to their sad fate.
Like this man who emerges with a pigeon injured by the blades of a fan on the ceiling of his terrace.
“It’s the first time such a thing has happened,” confides, guiltily, Selva Raj, 67, employee of a diamond dealer.
The veterinarian, Rajkumar Rajput, 38, immediately grabs the bird, examines it, disinfects and bandages its wounds. The dispensary is also home to parrots, parakeets and cockatoos. Their cacophony is deafening.
“Birds are the builders of nature and we humans are its destroyers,” regrets the Jain veterinarian, showing off a convalescent green pigeon. “Such a bird sows the seeds of at least 10,000 trees in its lifetime.”