4 days on, black-necked stork yet to be rescued

NEWDELHI: The black-necked stork with a plastic cap stuck in its beak could not be rescued even on the fourth day, despite a late night attempt on Sunday.

Birders from Delhi and NCR, who had been tracking it from day one, said that it has become weaker but still had the strength to fly. Hence, approaching it was difficult as it may fly away, which would make it difficult to spot it again.

“The bird was spotted on Sunday afternoon after a gap of almost 72 hours. There was an attempt to capture it last night. But it failed. The birders could not locate it. The terrain was difficult and it was pitch-dark,” said Pankaj Gupta, a birder from the Delhi Bird Foundation, who was coordinating the search operation.

On Monday, a team of birders followed it throughout the day again and found that it was almost at the same spot where it was on Sunday evening.

“We had thought that it was unable to drink or feed. But now it seems that it can drink to some extent as it can open its beak slightly despite the bottle neck stuck. It, however, can’t feed which is making it weaker,” said Gupta.

A team of officials from the Haryana forest department and experienced bird catchers from the Bombay Natural History Society would be camping at Najafgarh at night to make another late night rescue attempt on Monday.

“We still don’t know how long it would take to capture the bird. We are tracking it throughout the day. We can only hope to catch it when it becomes too weak to fly,” he added.

Initially, the birders had thought of tranquilising the bird. But veterinary doctors advised not to tranquilise it as it could aggravate matters. The only option is to catch it with a net.