Thousands of birds are thirsty and dry due to the heat in India

An animal hospital in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad has treated about 2,000 birds in the past month, many of them weakened and severely dehydrated, some with broken wings after falling from trees. down.

“Every day we receive at least 50-60 birds that are dehydrated,” Gira Shah, co-founder of the Jivdaya charity, which runs the hospital, told AFP. According to Shah, local temperatures have spiked to 46 degrees Celsius. The heat wave coincides with the end of the breeding season for some bird species, resulting in large numbers of chicks and growing feathers requiring treatment at the site. basis.

Volunteer rescuers and many residents regularly bring boxes and bird baskets to the hospital. There, the veterinarian will register, weigh, tag and check on their condition. The birds were treated according to their condition, but 1 in 4 did not survive due to severe dehydration or associated complications. Recovering birds are kept in cages until ready to be released back into the wild. For individuals who are disabled due to injuries, the hospital will send them to a zoo or educational institute.

Veterinarian Nidhi Sharma treated parakeets, hawks and hawks that were rescued from the road. Rescuers believe that the kite bird, weakened by the heat, fell from a nest on a tree nearly 15 meters high to the ground.

Manager Sherwin Everett, who has worked at Jivdaya Hospital since 2010, said this year’s heatwave was among the worst for the local bird population he had ever seen.

The last days of April recorded scorching temperatures in India and Pakistan. The temperature reached 49 degrees Celsius in Jacobabad, Pakistan on April 30 and 47.2 degrees Celsius in Banda, India. The Indian Meteorological Department confirmed that the average temperature in April reached the highest level in many areas in the north and central region in more than 100 years.

Heat is quite common at this time of year in India and Pakistan. But scientists attribute the intensity, length and duration of heatwaves this year to rising global temperatures. Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, said that global warming is the root cause of the increase in heat. Experts predict that by the end of this week and next, maximum temperatures will exceed 50 degrees Celsius in parts of northwest India and Pakistan.

An Khang (According to Business Insider/Guardian)