Mangaluru: Birds dying of starvation due to lockdown?

Mangaluru: Many dead birds are seen lying on the roads and in front of the shops in the city since the past few days. It is being contented that they are dying because of the lack of food and water made available to them from human activity, which is almost non-existent since the lockdown began.

Assistant Director at the Animal Husbandry Department, Henry Lasrado agrees with this theory expressing that the birds become weak from dehydration and hunger, and die on impact after falling on hard surfaces.

Carcasses of pigeons, crows and a few other species have been seen at State Bank neighbourhood of the city. This area is better known for its numerous street food vendors on carts. Birds here would feed on the leftovers and waste piles strewed across here. However, since the lockdown, this place is void of any human presence.

Suma Nayak of Animal Care Trust at Shaktinagar also agrees with the opinion that lockdown has affected bird mortality. In the last few days, her Trust has looked after ill parrots, pigeons, crows and bulbuls.

As the fish markets in the city and at the port were also closed, eagles and crows around here suffered a lot.

Veterinarian Dr Vasant Kumar and environmentalist Dinesh Holla both are also of the opinion that lockdown has hampered the nutrition received by birds in the city. They express that birds habituated to a certain place will not easily leave it during a shortage of food further exacerbating their condition and leading them to die.