News
Bangalore: Saving 81 Barn Swallows
February 27, 2009, 11:46PM MT
By Sharon St. Joan
Rescuing birds from a poacher
Rescuing birds from a poacher
By Sharon St. Joan, Best Friends Network
WRRC, the sister organization of CUPA, in Bangalore, where Saleem Hameed is the wildlife rehabilitator, covers about eight acres, perched at the edge of the Bannerghatta Forest, a large natural forest.
There, with several assistants, Saleem cares for a huge variety of wild creatures, most brought to him by their rescuers who find them when they are injured.
Early in February, Vena, a farmer who lives not too far from the WRRC shelter, stopped by to bring to Saleem an injured pelican. Vena is a farmer, but not only a farmer. Vena himself rescues and cares for wildlife. Every year he cares for around sixty orphaned or displaced Painted Stork chicks after they've become separated from their parents and found by kind villagers. He looks after them on his balcony, feeds them, keeps them safe, and when they fledge, he releases them to join their flock, to leave on migration with the others.
At the village where Vena lives, Veerapura, there is a large heronry. The people who live there have a great love and respect for the birds. Early in February, while Vena was taking a photo of a flying Spot-billed Pelican with his cell phone, the bird unexpectedly crashed to the ground. Vena grabbed up the bird, and hailed a taxi to rush the bird to Saleem, who would know how to care for him.
The next morning Anand, one of the WRRC staff, went with Venu to buy some fish for the pelican. They went to Anekal Lake about twenty kilometers (twelve miles) away. Anekal Lake is leased by the government to fishermen to raise and harvest fish.
While Anand and Venu were there near the lake, they stumbled upon a hut where they were dismayed to find over one hundred Barn Swallows being kept illegally captive in horrible conditions. Apparently, they were being kept to be killed for food.
The birds' condition was grave, so rather than taking the lengthy time that would be needed to inform the police and the forest department and file a formal report, Anand warned the people in the hut that their action was illegal and that they could be charged with wildlife crimes. Then he and Venu rushed the swallows back to WRRC! Since then, Anand has been back to the hut, where he found no sign of any more poaching having taken place.
When they got back to WRRC with the birds, all that day, volunteers, with Saleem's guidance, took care of the rescued swallows, hoping to get them back into good shape to be releasable. Venu stayed to help, along with several local volunteers from Bangalore, and an old friend of Saleem's, Martin Kintz, who happened to be visiting from Germany.
Every bird received two carefully-calculated injections of Lactated Ringers Solution and Dextrose under the skin. Just that morning Saleem had received, from another friend who's working in the U.S., a package with a special insectivorous diet--which was just perfect for feeding the Barn Swallows!
Barn Swallows are a winter migrant in India. They breed in the hills of Northwestern Pakistan and in the Himalayas, where in the foothills they can be commonly seen at altitudes up to around 3,000 meters (9,000 feet).
With all the expert care they received, most of the birds gained strength throughout the day. There were about twenty who, sadly, were too far gone to save, but 78 of the birds felt much more chipper, and at twilight, they were released into the night sky--happily saved from becoming someone's dinner and free to fly once again!
The next morning three others who hadn't been quite ready to go, were feeling fine again, and were released as well.
What you can do
To read more about the CUPA and WRRC, please go to their website:
http://www.cupabangalore.org/wrrc.htm
Photo: WRRC / one of the rescued Barn Swallows having a snack