|
Cities are not particularly known for their sense of
compassion. Latest of all, a city like Delhi with its blinding pace
of development and callous disregard for anything that might impede
its forward march. Yet it is Delhi which has the distinction of
showing compassion in its least celebrated forms. Compassion towards
common everyday birds like sparrows, pigeons, parrots, crows etc.
thousands of them are maimed everyday for simply sharing the
environment with us, by such common things as electric ventilator
fans and the razor sharp string (manja) that Indian kit fliers
use. Most of them are condemned to a slow painful death or to serve
as food for cats and dogs. In Delhi however they can hope to get
medical attention and benur5sed back to health in exactly the same
way as humans.
Oblivious to the busy crowded streets of Delhi,
flocks of pigeons fill up the sky, over a large red building,
opposite the Red Fort. The building is especially dear to the pigeons
because it is the one and only Bird Hospital of India-The only place
where they can be assured of competent medical help. A place where
they can recuperate from injury or fatigue, free from any threat.
Where they would be fed adequately and be given the respect they
deserve as living creatures. In sum, the red building is the only
sanctuary in a sea of hostile elements.
Everyday, 60 to 70 birds are brought in by
compassionate Delhities. Most of them are accident victims; hit by
cars on roads, or struck by fans in their frenzy to build nests on
open balconies. Many of them are struck by diseases such as cancer
paralysis, diarrhea and blindness. There are seasonal problems too
like dehydration in summer and pneumonia in winter. And finally,
malnutrition, the biggest ailment that afflicts them all. There is an
uncanny likeness with human calamities. The treatment therefore is
also not very different from that given to humans, only the dosage
and handling is different. All injuries are treated with antiseptic
and bandaged. Fractures receive plaster casts. Antibiotic medicines,
such as penicillin and teramycine, are administered for serious
infections. When necessary, surgery is resorted to. Charts are kept
for each bird and each cage has a number in the same way as a human
patient is given a bed number.
Located on the premises of a famous Jain Temple the
hospital was found predictably by a Jain saint; Acharya Shri Shanti
Sagar, in 1926. when the hospital was opened, it was no more than a
first aid post, manned by a single attendant, operating out of just
one room. But thanks to generous public response, by 1957, it
became a full fledged hospital, with a capacity to look after over
10,000 patients. Today, it is spread over a three storied building
and is staffed by a full complement of a doctor, a supervisor, a
chemist and several trained attendants. The bird is first brought to
the surgery where it is given immediate treatment and put in a cage,
where the birds that need the most attention, are kept. When they are
well on the road to recovery, they are transferred to the
convalescing rooms on the second floor. It is only when they are
fully recovered that they are taken to the freedom room on the top
floor. The considerable expenses of the hospital are met entirely by
donations from the general public. So generous are the donations that
this is probably the only hospital(including those for humans) which
has no financial problems at all.
The hospital ahs a remarkable recovery rate of over
75 per cent. Once a bird recovers, it is allowed to fly away. Every
Saturday a section of the roof is opened and the fully recovered
birds are beckoned to take to the skies once again. But many who are
too old, refuse. Life in he hospital is too good: there is enough
food clean water and above all safety from their natural predators.
It is perfectly understandable that many of them should choose to
spend their last days here and die in dignity. The 12 to 15 birds
that die at the hospital everyday are solemnly cremated on the banks
of the Yamuna, just like human beings are. Is there another place
where so much respect is shown towards birds?
| 
