Reports of distressed pittas fly in thick and fast

As the number of such cases will increase in Chennai in the days to come, animal rescuers start focussing on letting people know how not to kill the bird with kindness

It can sometimes be hard to tell what killed an exhausted migratory bird — the exhaustion of long-distance flying or the kindness of its benefactors.

The Indian pitta is susceptible to both. Animal rights activist and rescuer Shravan Krishnan is once again doing what he has done over the years, around this time — educating Chennai residents on the do’s and dont’s of pitta rescue and care. One can sense the message coming with a gust of urgency.

Through the first half of this week, Besant Memorial Animal Dispensary at Theosophical Society, found residents from different addresses — one from KK Nagar, two from Thiruvanmiyur and another from Adyar — entering the portals of the facility carrying injured and dehydrated pittas they had found in their stomping grounds. The pitta brought in from KK Nagar has a broken wing.