Climate Action India Project #26352

Avian Rehabilitation

by Jivdaya Charitable Trust

Project Report | Oct 24, 2018
Saving Black Kite from Glue trap injury

By RUPA MAJUMDAR | PROGRAM MANAGER

Recovered-glue-trap-free black kite

SAVING BLACK KITE FROM GLUE TRAP AND ITS REHABILITATION:

BLACK KITE:

The Black Kite is a medium-sized raptor (bird of prey).

The Black Kite's range covers the majority of the Australian mainland, as well as Africa, Asia and Europe.

The Black Kite is arguably the most numerous species of raptor in the world.

Habitat: The Black Kite is found in a variety of habitats, from timbered watercourses to open plains, and is often observed in and around outback towns.

Feeding: The Black Kite preys on lizards, small mammals and insects, especially grasshoppers.

It also is a scavenger, and frequents tips in outback towns.

Its this habit of feeding leads it to cover a wider area and get caught in killing traps, one of which is the dangerous Glue-trap.

GLUE TRAPS- THE TRAPS OF PAIN- AND DANGER TO THE WILDLIFE :

Glue traps are one of the most cruellest form of killing or trapping animals and birds, both small and large-sized.

Once trapped the animals try their best to escape from it, but during this struggle , the glue rips off their delicate skin, furs and feathers.

One such case of Glue-Trapped Black kite was brought into our hospital that was badly caught in it, with most of the feathers stuck together.

The bird couldn't even open its wings properly let alone fly off the trap.

There were even remnants of a dead rat on the trap, which obviously was the reason for a scavenger like the Kite to end up in a glue trap.

The bird was badly stressed out and pretty dehydrated as well.

Our team of experts quickly set into getting as much glue off as they could and then re-hydrating the bird was the next step.
We used baby oil to remove most of the glue off the body that helped the feathers from sticking further to the body or to anything else that it touched.

After a few days of oil washes and dish washing liquid baths, the bird's feathers were able to come back to normal.

Baby oil was put all over the sticky areas, then using clean dry cloth excess glue was taken off the body.

After that the oil was massaged into the feathers to loosen the glue.

Last step before putting it back to the cage was giving it a bath with liquid soap to get the excess oil, glue and dirt off the Kite.

This Kite was lucky as we managed to get it off the glue trap and back on its feet, but others aren't so lucky.

There are numerous predators and scavengers that get attracted to the insects and pests that are caught on these glue trap.

They normally end up dying right there at the spot on those old discarded traps.

Now our Black kite is recovered to be released back into the wild in its natural habitat!

Hats off to our team of doctors and experts that we were able to rescue the bird from a fatal injury!!

We already are in the process of creating awareness through face-to-face interaction with rescuers, animal-lovers, local community , through social media and other programs.

We kindly request people and want to convey this message that :-

" Glue traps are the worst kind of pest control, please DO NOT use them. Use more humane rat traps to catch and release the pests."

We once again put out our heart and souls for compassionate people all over the world, our donors, supporters and well-wishers of our work and wildlife conservation, to remain as supportive you are and donate for a cause to protect innocent lives around us.

Our Aviary expert handling glued kite

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