Hyderabad: An abandoned Purple Moorhen was rescued by Animal Warriors and rehabilitated till it could fly on its own. The city based animal and bird rescuers treated the bird, which was just a nestling and had been separated from its clutch. Someone had dropped off the wounded bird at Blue Cross Hyderabad (BCH) in Jubilee Hills after finding it lying on the road, and Animal Warriors picked it up from there and treated it for almost five mon-ths before releasing the bird into a lake recently once she could fly.
The treatment consisted of first preparing a diet chart appropriate for a nestling. The bird was given electrolytes for the dehydration and then fed worms and protein rich bird feed as well as multivitamins to increase energy levels. Pradeep Nair, the founder of Animal Warriors India, said, “She was just a few days old, wounded and looked dehydrated as she had crinkly skin around her eyes. She was weak from hunger and dehydration.”
He said that as a Moorhen is a water bird, “We used to take her to the lakes every day to expose her to the conditions in which she would later survive. She used to observe the other purple Moorhens and listen to them, which was helpful for her to understand her life.” At one point the bird fell critically ill with viral fever and had to be treated by a vet. After she recovered, “We felt it was the right time to release her, so we released her a few days ago in the same lake where we used to take her every day. From an abandoned bird, she had become a beautiful purple Moorhen in five months. We used to call her ‘Purple’,” Mr Nair said.
Animal Warriors India is a rescue group and an umbrella organisation for animal activists to share services and serve animals better. It has rescued some 200 birds, around 1,000 animals and 1,000 reptiles in the past 12 years.
