Manja menace: Animal lovers come to rescue of injured feathered friends

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 14

As use of Chinese kite string goes unchecked, coming to the rescue of injured birds and stray animals, a group of animal lovers has been running voluntary rescue and rehabilitation service in the city.

Facilitated by Dr Rohan Mehra, who runs a non-profit Anti-Crime and Animal Protection Association, a group of 10 individuals has set up a animal rescue team, which can be contacted 24x7 and has been rescuing birds and barn owls.

“We started the initiative a year ago in our individual capacity as a community service. For us, it was a way to care for our avian friends, who get grievously injured due to our ignorance and apathy,” said Dr Rohan.

He said the city reports almost three to four bird injury cases everyday and they have rescued birds stuck in Chinese strings from electricity poles, trees and even buildings. “We require a lot of equipment such as ladders, specific tools and even medical kits. We are currently self-financing ourselves and we stock medicines and first aid kits. Since we are doing this voluntarily, sometimes we have to make do with whatever we have in order to rescue or treat an injured bird,” he said.

They have approached the district administration several times to provide them with required support for animal rescue. “Primarily, this is the government’s job but they cite limitations. To help these animals/birds, we require medicines, shelter home, experts who can administer required treatment in case of grievous injuries. This cannot be done single handedly. We do collaborate with the Fire Department some times for our rescue operations,” he said.

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