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Birds in Gujarat fall victim to glass-coated kite strings | Ahmedabad may have bid goodbye to the 20th Annual International Kite Festival, which was held on January 10, but with just a day to go before the Hindu festival of Uttarayan, the skies are still teeming with kites, and the colourful display has felled scores of birds. Many birds have
fallen victim to the deadly glass-coated kite strings, which are also known as
'manja'. “The only thing that will save the birds is awareness among the people
to fly less kites. It's not only during Uttarayan on the 14th that this happens;
the 'manja' (kite-string) that is used gets entangled in the trees. When the birds
enter the trees for roosting, their legs and wings are injured. We get some birds
without wings,” said Dr. Percy Avari of the Bombay Veterinary College . The bird
rescue helplines are proving to be the lifeline of the feathered creatures. “This
time we are putting a software to track the birds. People who were complaining
were given a number for their bird. From there, they can log on and see the status
of their bird,” said Siddharth Jaiswal , a volunteer. Meanwhile, People for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), an animal welfare body, has urged kite lovers
not to use glass-coated 'manja'. PETA has also suggested people avoid flying kites
before 9 am and after 5 pm , as this is the time when birds go out in search of
food, or return to their nests. |
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