Man rescues flamingo from stray dogs in Dahanu

The flamingo is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital

An endangered flamingo was rescued from a pack of stray dogs by a Dahanu man on Wednesday.

Anirudh Patil, 28, who rescued the bird, said, “I rushed to the spot as soon as locals informed me. The bird was exhausted and could not defend itself from the stray dogs which were trying to attack it. I shooed them away and rescued the bird.”

Patil then got in touch with professor Manish Jodhalekar, a geography teacher in a local college, who told him to admit the bird to the Wildlife Conservation and Animal Welfare Association-run hospital in Dahanu.

“I informed the Dahanu forest department officials who came to take a look,” said Patil.

“The flamingo is currently undergoing treatment at the hospital. It is responding well so far. We have administered saline and other medicines as it was highly exhausted, perhaps as it flew for several hours,” said Dhawal Kansara, of the hospital.

“We will release the bird after it has fully recovered,” he said.

Locals hunt flamingos in Kelwe and Dahanu even though it is an offence, he added.

“In July 2014, four people were held under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 for killing three flamingos at Danda creek,” he said.