3 June 2018
Friday 15 June 2018
The black-necked stork Rescue
pic: Manoj Nair
Indian birdwatchers have rescued a rare stork near Delhi which
they feared would starve to death because a piece of rubber had trapped shut
its beak.
The black-necked stork is being fed fish by hand after the
rubber was removed and kept under observation before being released into the
wild.
Conservationists had been trailing the bird since it was spotted
in wetland near the capital on 7 June.
It had been able to drink water but could not open its beak
further to eat.
The stork was rescued about 9am on Wednesday and what was
thought to be a plastic ring shutting its beak turned out to be a rubber
stopper with holes.
"When we found it, it was very weak. It was lying on the
ground," said Pankaj Gupta, a bird watcher and member of the Delhi Bird
Foundation, who was involved in the rescue mission.
He said its condition had rapidly improved - by noon it was
standing up and poking its beak at anyone who came too close.
Mr Gupta said the rubber stopper, which could have come from a
bottle or can, is likely to have slipped onto the stork's beak when it was
hunting in the water, and then got stuck there.
Photographs of the beleaguered bird led to the rescue mission
being mounted.
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