Kite string threat: 200 more birds suffer injury

New Delhi, Aug 17 (PTI) At least 200 fresh cases of birdinjuries were reported today from different parts of the city,many of which had suffered wounds from the kite string, OldDelhi-based Charity Birds Hospital said. The nearly 60-year-old avian hospital located in ChandniChowk area behind the Digamber Jain Lal Mandir said the totalnumber of cases is likely to go up to 1,200-1,300 by tomorrow. Nearly 500 cases of bird injuries have been reportedbetween August 13 and 15. Kite flying is a popular sport,especially on Independence Day, during which several birdssuffer injuries every year, owing to the ‘killer manjha’ usedto fly kites. The Delhi government had yesterday banned the kitethread, coated with powdered glass (‘manjha’), after twochildren and a youth died on Independence Day as their throatsgot slit with it in separate incidents across the nationalcapital. "It’s good that they (the government) have at leastbanned the manjha. But, birds suffer injuries even from simplethreads. There has to be some sort of restriction on kiteflying. We have to be sensitive towards these creatures also,"said Sunil Jain, owner and manager of the hospital. He said most of the injured birds are pigeons though "wealso get cases of parrots, kites and eagles". "We got 250 cases yesterday. The number is likely to goup… By tomorrow, it could reach around 1,200-1,300," hesaid. "Out of the total number of cases, 60 per cent are fromOld Delhi where people fly kites in huge number, followed by20 per cent from trans-Yamuna area and the rest from otherparts of Delhi," he added. Jain said one injured peacock was also brought to thehospital from Seelampur. PTI KNDSMN