Trauma Care Centre for Stray Animals and Birds

The Steppe Eagle is a large bird of prey. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae

Scientific name- Aquila nipalensis

It is about 62-74 cm in length and has a wingspan of 165-190cm.

This is a large eagle with brown upper parts and blackish flight feathers and tail.

The Steppe Eagle breeds from Romania east through the south Russian and Central Asian steppes to Mongolia. The European and Central Asian birds’ winter in Africa, and the eastern birds in India.

Throughout its range, it favors open dry habitats, such as desert, semi-desert, steppes, or savannah.

Flying colorful kites with your family or friends under the morning sun from a rooftop is an unbeatable experience. The joy of flying kites and cutting the strings of other kites is unmatched.

The kite-flying tradition is so famous that people also organize recreational competitions during this festival. How cool would it be to be the last one standing?

But what about the Birds who are flying and gliding and having their time in mid-air?

Birds cannot see this fine string while flying and thousands of them get tangled up and injured or killed during the festival each year. Also, after the kite flying is done, coils of this sharp Manja (Kite String) are found hanging on trees and lampposts: a hazard for birds and people alike.

This Steppe Eagle (Raka) was brought to Jivdaya by a local rescuer after the bird was brutally injured by a kite string and was unable to fly. As our team detected the injury, the bird was injured by its left -wing and the kite string had lacerated the bones, and also ruptured its muscles. It was in a severe condition and had an outflow of blood, so doctors concluded to opt for emergency surgery.

The doctor had to take sutures to join the torn muscle and get it back to fly in the wild.

Raka was under intensive care for over 12 weeks, with daily follow-ups. After a long treatment and care, Raka has been released to the wild recently.