Birds cut down by kite flying on Indian Independence Day
NEW DELHI — The annual tradition of flying kites over the Indian capital on Independence Day takes a painful toll on birds that fall victim to their razor-sharp strings.
Workers at the Charity Birds Hospital see it happen every year — mostly to pigeons but also to crows, eagles and parrots. The wounded populate cages lining the halls of the clinic’s emergency ward.
The hospital, set up in the courtyard of the Digamber Jain Temple in the old quarters of New Delhi, relies on donations. It treats birds year-round for injuries they might have sustained in animal attacks or from flying into ceiling fans. But every August, its halls fill with hundreds of fluttering, squawking birds that have been sliced up by kite strings.
“This year there have been about 700 birds in just three days” since Monday, the day before Independence Day, said manager Sunil Kumar Jain. About 15 per cent of those have died, he added.