Group of friends save flamingo with fractured wing from stray dog at beach near Mumbai

Mumbai city news: The three-foot bird suffered two fractures to its right wing and may not be able to fly again, said a veterinarian. Doctors feared they may have to amputate the wing.

A group of friends in Vasai rescued a lesser flamingo from a stray dog at Rajodi beach on Wednesday. The three-foot bird suffered two fractures to its right wing and may not be able to fly again, said a veterinarian. Doctors feared they may have to amputate the wing.

The group of friends. (HT)

Classified as an endangered species, lesser flamingos are migratory birds from Kutch in Gujarat and are also found in sub-Saharan Africa.

“When we were swimming at the beach, we saw a stray attacking the flamingo. It was helpless and the dog was about to kill it. We shooed the dog and rescued the bird,” said Mehul Gharat, one of the group of friends that rescued the bird. “The flamingo could not walk and we took it home and fed it small prawns,” said his friend Samir Shelar.

“Sachin Main, founder-chairman of the Nature and Environment Society of Thane (NEST) in Vasai, took the bird to a clinic,” he said.

Doctors will conduct surgery on the flamingo.