First Time in Gujarat: Feather Implants for Birds Injured by Kites

This rare procedure helps birds severely wounded by razor-sharp manjhas take flight again.

An injured kite recuperates after its feathers were transplanted in a radical surgery conducted at Jivdaya Trust in Ahmedabad.

Rahul Nair@The Quint

From mid-December to mid-January, the skies of Ahmedabad and most cities and towns in Gujarat are choked with kites, as people take to their roofs to indulge in epic showdowns.

However, the kite-flying ritual of the Uttarayan season also poses a great risk to birds, for the razor-sharp strings used to fly kites – manjha – often severely injure them.

These injuries range from lacerations, broken wings, broken feathers, multiple fractures, etc as the birds plummet to the ground.

Each year, scores of birds are left with such injuries in Ahmedabad before and after Uttarayan.

To help such birds recuperate and take flight again, Jivdaya Trust, an NGO based in Ahmedabad, has brought in a radical new procedure in Gujarat – feather implants.

Feathers From Dead Birds, New Life for Injured Ones

The animal hospital run by the NGO conducted its first successful feather transplant in 2018 on four birds – two kites, a shikra and a crow.

The general manager of the NGO, Dharmendrasinh Rathod, told The Quint that two successful transplants where completed in the first two weeks of the new year.

“Last year, we saw that the procedure was successful, and the birds could adapt to the new feathers. So we decided to fully implement it this year. The thing is, these feathers are not artificially made. We collect the feathers from dead birds of the same species; we then mark it and preserve it for future transplants.

Dharmendrasinh Rathod, General Manager, Jivdaya Trust

Rathod further added, “The volume of injured birds coming in is quite high. Before Uttarayan, the number is around 50-70 birds per day. We receive around 300-400 birds with kite-related injures on 14 and 15 January alone. By March, this number will be around 3,000. In fact, throughout the year, we keep receiving birds injured by manjhas.

Delicate Surgery, Long Recovery

Clinical Director at Jivdaya Trust, Dr Sashikant Desai told The Quint that there is no margin of error in the surgery.

“Even if we are transplanting 5-6 feathers in one wing, the surgery takes around one to one and a half hours. This is a complicated process which is done under anaesthesia. The implants depend on the number of damaged feathers and the position of the wing. If different sized feathers are used, the length of the wing could change and the bird will not be able to fly easily. The margin of error is nonexistent because once the feather is fixed, it cannot be removed and repositioned.

Dr Sashikant Desai, Clinical Director, Jivdaya Trust

According to Sherwin Everett, hospital curator at the Jivdaya Trust, it takes over a month for the bird to recover and retain its flight.

“The ones with lacerations on the wings, they take a minimum of three to four weeks to heal and released back into the wild. Apart from that, they come with compound fractures and those birds take longer, at least one to one and a half months to heal properly. Then add a few more weeks of physiotherapy and flight practice before they are released back into the wild.”

Sherwin Everett, Hospital Curator at the Jivdaya Trust

As per the rehabilitation ratio recorded by the NGO, around 35-50 percent of the injured birds are returned to the wild.

Rathod said, “I believe we are the only hospital in India where feathers are transplanted. We need to spread the word so that more injured birds can get relief and retain its ability to fly,” Rathod said.