A healing nest for birds

Amid the hustle-bustle of Chandni Chowk nestles the hospital where injured birds get free treatment.

Teeming with thousands of injured and ailing birds that make it their home only to take wing again, the Charity Birds Hospital in the old quarter of Delhi is like a tiny piece of sky on earth.

HT Image

Amid the hustle-bustle of Chandni Chowk nestles the three-storey hospital where nearly 3,000 injured birds are currently receiving free treatment.

"As soon as an injured bird is brought in, we provide first aid and then put it in the ICU (intensive care unit). As its health improves, we shift it to a general ward. And when it is fully fit, we let it fly in a bunch of 100 to 150 birds," veterinary surgeon Vijay Kumar told IANS.

Over 30 injured birds - including pigeons, parrots, kites, sparrows, poultries, mynahs, finches, hariyals, crows and doves - are brought in for first aid or treatment to the hospital every day.

With 272 small individual cages, four general wards, a pox ward and a coryza (respiratory special) ward, a doctor, two compounders, seven attendants and an accountant man the hospital run by members of the Jain community.

Kumar said: "We have two ways of attending to the sick birds. If a bird is admitted indoor, then we take the responsibility for its care and release it the moment we see it has recovered fully.

"In the OPD (outpatient department), people keep the birds with themselves and bring it on follow-up dates."

People come to the hospital with injured birds from 8 a.m. onwards. Though the hospital downs its shutter by 8 p.m., people can avail themselves of medical advice over telephone from the attendants.

Komal Patwal, 23, from Rohini in west Delhi said: "This morning when I woke up, I found my dog under my bed and there was a sound of fluttering wings. To my horror, my dog had wounded a bird."

The bird is now recovering at the hospital.

Sunny, whose pet hen snapped a limb, is another visitor to the hospital.

Despite providing free treatment, the hospital receives no aid from the government. However, donations from across the country keep it afloat.

"We get donations from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Mumbai to Kolkata," the accountant said.

Many donate various types of fodder for the birds.

"Today is our son's birthday, so we thought instead of splurging money on throwing a party, why not do something that gives us peace. So we brought 66 kg - the weight of our son - of mixed pulses for these birds," said Hanuman Sahai Khandelwal, 46.

His wife added: "I feel this was the best way I have ever celebrated my son's birthday."

The hospital's popularity can be gauged by the fact that it not only attracts visitors, but also gets queries on avian treatments from all over the country.

Established in 1929 by late Lala Lachu Mal Jain Gotewallah, the hospital is located in the premises of the Sri Digambar Jain Lal Mandir opposite the 17th century Red Fort.

--Indo-Asian News Service

sn/sa/mr