: The Jain Temple Charitable Bird Hospital, opposite the historic Red Fort, was under tremendous strain the last three days. As many as 500 birds injured by manjha were treated at the hospital. The number of casualties, however, is only expected to rise.
Sunil Jain, manager of the hospital, said: “The number is likely to cross 1,000 by the end of this week. This is a frightening scenario.”
Reason for popularityManjha are kite strings that have glass shreds or are made of nylon. They are popular as they ensure that kites don’t get cut easily, and fly higher. The string, however, is responsible for crippling and killing a lot of birds every year.
“The glass manjha (glass powder-treated string, also called Chinese string/ manjha ) gets entangled around trees, and kills birds,” says Mr. Jain.
He adds that the commonly injured birds are eagles, pigeons and parrots. They usually receive cuts in the neck region and wings.
“Old Delhi sees the maximum number of cases,” he says. The hospital treats nearly 30,000 birds every year. The authorities say that August and early September are the worst months for birds.
Wildlife SOS co-founder Kartick Satyanarayan says, “ Manjha claims the lives of countless birds in India every year. We recently rescued a pigeon from outside the Rohini metro station, whose left wing had been injured by the coarse string.’’
