Bird with jammed beak rescued

After six arduous days of relentless effort, the starving black-neck stork, that was staring at imminent death with its beak jammed with a plastic ring, was finally rescued on Wednesday afternoon from the wetlands of Basai in Haryana.

The big bird had been starving for the last six days as it could not open its beak due to the plastic ring that got stuck in it while digging for food.

Vinod Kumar, the additional principal chief conservator of forests of Haryana, said the bird is now safe and is being looked after by veterinarians.

Soon after the bird was trapped, it was fed with water to address dehydration issues. Kumar said the stork will be released in the wild after an approval from the veterinarian.

Kumar said teams of expert rescuers were waiting for the right moment to trap the bird.

Sources said the bird had been exhausted after days of starvation, which retarded its movement considerably. A long bamboo smeared with glue was used as a trap to rescue the bird.

On Tuesday, drones were flown to monitor the bird's movement.

However, the drones were grounded after officials encountered the problem of overground power lines.

The incident brings to fore the extent of plastic garbage being dumped in and around the wetlands.

The pollution control board, sources said, took note to the rampant dumping in the area and ordered its immediate removal to save wildlife.

Experts from the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) along with Haryana forest and wildlife wing were engaged in the six-day rescue operation to save the rare big bird.