The Hindu : Injured painted stork rehabilitated at zoo

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 29, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

Injured painted stork rehabilitated at zoo

By V.S. Palaniappan

An injured painted stork that was rehabilitated in the Coimbatore Corporation zoo on Sunday. — Photo: S. Siva Saravanan

COIMBATORE Dec. 28. A two-and-a-half-foot tall endangered painted stork that fell on a shuttle/tennis court here with injuries in the wings this morning has been rehabilitated in the VOC Park Corporation Zoo.

S. Sreekanth, a resident of Race Course, found the bird lying near the court close to the Bimetal Bearing office.

The female bird, weighing three kg, responded to treatment, he said.

The bird was identified as the most endangered painted stork which lives in areas with rich water resources and wetland. It should have been on a long flight in its migratory journey, said the zoo director, N.S. Manoharan.

In a bid to land in a pond or tank in Coimbatore, which had water, the bird might have descended to a lower altitude and come into contact with a live wire, which caused injuries to the wings and chest and immobilised it.

The bird was given medicine, mixed in fish, in the zoo. A temporary water trough and wetland were created in a cage for it.

As it was yet to overcome the trauma, the bird was not lodged with the rest of the birds. The stork was expected to recover in a day or two.

As it was a wild bird, it would be released into its ideal habitat. There was no pair to the bird in the zoo and domesticating and making it compatible to a captive atmosphere would be difficult, he said.

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