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A new lease of life for this bird
The tawny eagle that was rescued in Bangalore
CAN A magnificent bird of prey survive in an urban jungle such as ours? Not really, and certainly not without help from Nature lovers.
That is what one particularly splendid species of the tawny eagle (Aquila rapax vindhiana) discovered recently when it was let free in the People for Animals (PFA) shelter at Kengeri.
Rajesh Kurpad and Raghuram, employees of Jenesys Technologies who are also PFA volunteers, rescued the young eagle two months ago from BTM Layout. "A resident called the PFA saying that an eagle or kite had been found near Mico Layout bus stand. Since we attend to calls from south Bangalore, the two of us went there," Mr. Kurpad says.
Initially, they could not figure out if the bird was a kite or an eagle. "But later, we confirmed that it was a tawny eagle and a male one at that."
At the shelter, the eagle was nursed in an incubator and was later shifted to a kite enclosure along with other birds of prey that the PFA volunteers had rescued from various parts of the city.
According to Mr. Kurpad, the enclosure has kites and "parakeets we have confiscated from these travelling astrologers you see all over the city". But was it not risking things a bit to put a bird of prey next to parakeets? "Well, they weren't exactly in the same enclosure. The eagle was in a separate one," he said. Over time, the eagle regained its strength.
Tawny eagles are usually found in Africa, South Eastern Europe, West Asia, Myanmar and India. And the species comes from the same family (Accipitridae) that kites and hawks belong to. This awe-inspiring creature is feared for its hunting abilities. It eats small rabbits, snakes, rodents, lizards and ground squirrels. The Indian bird is smaller than its South African (Aquila rapax rapax) and North African (Aquila belisarius) counterparts.
But what happened to the Bangalore bird? At the PFA shelter, they fed it minced meat and chicken.
"Initially, it did not eat much, but later wolfed down the food," recalls Rajesh. The bird had to learn to hunt again too so the PFA took time to let it get back to its natural way of life. In fact, before they let it out, they measured the bird. The PFA members said its wingspan measured 91.44 cm then.
So, a happy ending for this particular bird, do you say? Well, the PFA thinks that there are several other birds to be rescued out there.
Those who find birds or other animals in distress may call it on 98801 08801 or 2860 3986/4767.
By Divya Sreedharan
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Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
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