A rare bird known as a Lapwing was rescued in a two-day operation by forest personnel and nearby residents in the middle of a lake on Sunday in Anekal on the outskirts of Bengaluru. The bird had been caught in a manja, the nylon thread used to fly kites, and had fallen into the lake. It remained immobilised in the water for three days.
On Saturday, Arun Prasad, a wildlife activist in Bengaluru, heard the bird calling and notified a wildlife rescuer called Nirajan. “I came to know about this bird from a person called Navin and immediately, I called Niranjan to try and rescue the bird,” Arun said. Niranjan reached the spot quickly but it had turned dark by then. They were not able to see the bird and could not risk entering the water at that time.
On Sunday, Niranjan returned to the spot along with residents of Anekal taluk. The bird was stuck in a spot, which was difficult to see or access due to shrubbery. After a long while, they identified the location of the bird but didn’t have any equipment to reach the animal. Following this, Arun and Niranjan reached out to the Range Forest Officer (RFO) to ask for assistance.
“We didn’t have the proper equipment to rescue the bird from water and had to call the RFO. Some time later, the forest personnel came with a tire tube and brought a local fisherman along with them. He used the tire tube and got the bird from the middle of the lake,” said Niranjan.
Later the bird was freed and Niranjan took it to his home to see if it would recover. “The bird was bleeding from its mouth and according to what the villagers said, it was in water for three days and must have been tired. I took it home and dried it off to see if it would recover. However, it was unable to even walk. So, I took it to the Wildlife Rescue Center, an NGO located within Bannerghatta National Park, where it is being treated now,” he said.
Speaking about the manja which caused the incident, Niranjan said, “These nylon manjas are extremely strong. If perhaps it was a cotton manja, even if the bird got stuck, it would have loosened up in a few hours and this wouldn’t have happened.”
Recently, an entrepreneur was badly injured after a nylon manja caught on his neck while riding his scooter in Bengaluru. Arun Prasad said that the civic authorities need to take proper measures to enforce an already existing ban on nylon manjas.