Rare barn owl new victim of 'killer' Chinese string

PK Jaiswar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 25

The deadly Chinese string is not only proving dangerous for people, but also for birds who get entangled in the dangling kite strings.

A barn owl was on Saturday rescued after vigilant residents of Officers Colony on Taylor Road informed employees of the SPCA. After putting in a lot of efforts, it was finally saved.

“The owl was first located late last evening. We searched for the employees of the SPCA and informed them about the dangling owl. Today, a team reached and rescued it a lot of efforts,” said a resident of the colony.

Ashok Joshi of the SPCA said he got information this morning and reached the spot. The owl was hanging due to being stuck in the string dangling on a tall tree and it was difficult to get it released from the entangled plastic string and we are happy that we finally succeeded in saving its life. He said the synthetic string had been playing havoc with the life of birds. “Every month we save on an average eight to 10 birds, including pigeon and crows,” he said.

This is not the first instance, last year also an owl was saved by noted environmentalist PS Bhatty and his team from Ranjit Avenue area.

Despite tall claims of the district administration and the police department, they were unable to curb the sale and purchase of the synthetic string in the region. With Lohri and Basant festivals drawing near, the Chinese string would be easily available at marketplaces.

“Besides legal action, the people should come forward and refrain from using the deadly string as it was taking its toll on the lives of people and birds. Recently, several incidents came to light when commuters suffered serious injuries due to loosely hanging string,” said local resident and animal lover Dr Rohan Mehra.

On December 15, Deputy Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Khaira directed Police Commissioner Dr Sukchain Singh Gill and SSP, Amritsar Rural, Rakesh Kaushal to take stern action against the offenders and inform him in this regard. But nothing in concrete was done so far.