Feature

Injured Kites saved by students on the Jagannath Hall premises

Dibbendu Dwip
Baharul Hosain
Kamrun Nahar

HOW does it feel when you suddenly notice that hundreds of birds have fallen from the tress and got stuck on barbed wire, injured and bleeding, needing immediate help? Naturally you feel extremely concerned and want to rush to their rescue. This is exactly what happened on 19 March when some kites were blown off their tree-top nests by a storm and fell on the ground. The incident took place on the premises of Jagannath Hall of Dhaka University but good news is all the kites survived because of timely action taken by the students with the help of their teacher. The kites lay there helplessly on the road, on the barbed wire, on the tree branches and on the ground with soaked feathers. Some of them were in pain as they fell on the barbed wire.

We noticed that many of them had lost their physical power to move let alone fly away. The students of Jagannath Hall felt a surge of affection towards the poor birds and took instant action and collected them into the anteroom of the hall. There were as many as two hundred of them.

As immediate succour, we gave them some primary treatment. Perhaps at first they did not understand what we were trying to do with them therefore they showed their ferocity by piercing their claws into us. But soon they could feel that we were trying to help them survive and became normal. We tried to make them warm by burning some paper but seeing the flame they started to flutter their wings. Later in the morning, they were released and one by one they fluttered their wings and flew away. All the fallen kites except six were able to make their way out. Seeing the condition of the six, we informed Professor Dr. Md. Anwarul Islam (Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka) who has been working on wild life for a long time. He came immedately along with some of his students (Baharul Hosain, Kamrun Nahar and Dibendu Das) when some students (Tapan, Anuruddha, Proshanto, Ramesh and some others) were feeding the wounded Kites. The birds were identified as Pariah Kites (Local Name: Bhuban Chill). Commonly found in Bangladesh, they are also found throughout Continental Europe, Africa, Mediterranean regions, and South Asia.

(Students of Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka)