Kingfisher rescued from glue mousetrap

Mumbai: A kingfisher was rescued from a deadly glue mousetrap Monday. A team of volunteers and veterinarians from the Plants & Animals Welfare Society (PAWS) Mumbai and Amma Care Foundation saved the bird, following a tip-off received from a local Dahisar resident.

According to wildlife activists, glue traps remain one of the cruelest ways of trapping animals. “It often rips patches of skin, fur and feathers off the animals’ bodies as they struggle to escape. Many animals even chew off their own limbs as they try to free themselves. Many a time, the glue sticks on the face and the birds suffocate to death, too,” said Sunish Subramanian, honorary wildlife warden and founder of the NGO PAWS.

The rescue operation took over two hours, following which the veterinarian safely removed the deadly glue from the bird’s beak and feathers.

“The bird was sighted near our society garden area. I saw it when I was passing by and I found it to be inextricably stuck to a rat glue trap, trying desperately to escape from the situation,” said Fenil Heniya, who called NGO PAWS-Mumbai ACF to rescue the bird.

“The bird is under immense stress and has been kept in mandated medical observation to ensure that it recuperates safely from the ordeal,” said the NGO’s honorary wildlife veterinarian Dr Manish Pingle.

Later, the NGO informed the forest department about the incident. After nurturing the bird for a week under observation, the bird was released safely in its natural habitat.

The bird which was rescued is a white-throated kingfisher (Halcyon Smyrnensis), also known as the white-breasted kingfisher, which is the most commonly found species of bird in the Indian subcontinent.