Cyclone Tauktae: 80 birds, animals rescued in 3 days from Mumbai Metropolitan Region

A volunteer wildlife rescue group operating in the city has responded to nearly 300 calls for rescuing various birds, mammals and reptiles in and around the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) in the past three days, after Cyclone Tauktae passed by the Maharashtra coast

A volunteer wildlife rescue group operating in the city has responded to nearly 300 calls for rescuing various birds, mammals and reptiles in and around the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) in the past three days, after Cyclone Tauktae passed by the Maharashtra coast. As of Thursday afternoon, 80 animals – largely birds, some of which were pelagic and migratory birds – have been rescued.

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The birds include an Amur falcon (rescued from Khar), one sooty tern (rescued from Santacruz East), a one-bridled tern (rescued from Jogeshwari), a black-headed ibis (rescued from Goregaon with a fractured wing) and two Indian pittas (rescued from Mira Road in Thane).

Rescuers said these birds were not usually seen in interior Mumbai and were probably displaced by the strong winds that lashed the city earlier this week.

“These birds are uncommon in Mumbai, except the ibis which is sometimes seen in mangrove areas around the coast. The birds we found were likely displaced from their migratory paths, and were mainly found in a state of extreme exhaustion,” said Pawan Sharma, founder of the Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare (RAWW).

Two other rescue groups, Owls and the Wildlife Welfare Association, rescued sea birds, including a brown nadi and a wedge-tailed shearwater, from Pune and Thane, respectively. These sea birds are not typically seen in interior Maharashtra. Wildlife workers saying the birds had likely been thrown very far off course due to strong winds during the cyclone.

Other birds affected by the extreme weather event include two juvenile red-wattled lapwings, 33 black kites, two cattle egrets, a pond heron, six house crows, a little egret, six pigeons, one common-hawk cuckoo, seven rose-ringed parakeets, a purple-rumped sunbird and four Alexandrine parakeets. Another seven birds – including two crows, two crows, an ibis, a tern and a parakeet –had already died or died soon after rescuers got to them.

Other animals that had to be rescued include a golden jackal from Pimplas in Thane district, which was suffering from a 103-degree fever. Additionally, one monitor lizard, five rat snakes, seven palm squirrels, four checkered keelback snakes and six spectacled cobras, a wolf snake and three buff-striped keelback snakes were also rescued from Mumbai, Thane and Palghar districts.

“As predicted, we are seeing the after-effects of the cyclone on resident and migratory wildlife. Incidents of such birds being injured and displaced are still being reported every hour to our helpline. We are trying to reach to as many cases as we can in MMR,” said Sharma, adding that his team of 20 wildlife volunteers has been working round the clock for the past 72 hours. Treatment and rehabilitation of the rescued animals is also underway, he said.