Had my one-and-a-half-year-old daughter seen these helpless crow fledglings so heartlessly dumped on a street corner, she would have pestered me to see them helped out of their distress. The crow is her favourite bird.
But, someone living on Bazaar Street in Mylapore does not seem to share her fascination for the crow. It’s likely they have no concern for any winged creatures. Nor for trees. Last Sunday, in the early hours, when the city was still asleep, branches of a tree were ruthlessly cut down. Down with the branches came little crows in their nests.
The nests and the branches were thrown into a garbage bin. The trunk of the tree was left to stand.
For residents like R. Ponsekar, who runs a shop selling windows, and K.V.P. Deepakraj, an advocate, nothing could be more shocking. “We woke up to find the branches cut and thrown at the street corner. There were a few nests which had been thrashed. We saw a few broken eggs too. An intact nest had two little crows in them. One was able to fly. The other had not learnt to yet. We removed the nest with the birds and kept it in a safe place and also left some water for the poor birds,” says Deepakraj.Ponsekar says regular visitors to the area have been approaching him and asking him about the tree, which is very near his shop. “The tree provided such ample shade. Many people are saddened by the mindless cutting of the tree’s branches,” he says, adding that over 10 such trees were planted eight years ago as part of a tree-planting drive by the Corporation. The cut branches were cleared from the street a few days ago. “We kept the nest above an ATM on the street. The mother crow would come and feed the lone baby crow. Now the little crow has flown away too,” says Ponsekar.What could have encouraged such an act? Residents say they believe the branches were cleared to make space for building an arch for a temple nearby. “It is being said that a temple arch is going to be constructed here. We believe the branches were lopped off to facilitate this,” says Deepakraj, who has filed an online complaint on the Chennai Corporation’s website about the unauthorised pruning of the tree. Deepakraj has been keeping an eye on the tree ever since the incident happened and is happy to note that no further harm has come to it. “In fact the leaves have started to grow back again. We hope the tree will be left alone and not destroyed.”
“We woke up to find the branches cut and thrown at the street corner. There were a few nests which had been thrashed. We saw a few broken eggs too. An intact nest had two little crows in them. One was able to fly. The other had not learnt to. We removed the nest with the birds and kept it in a safe place and also left some water for the poor birds.”
