Now Reading: PfA: 30 years of animal rescues, prosthetics, feather implants
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PfA: 30 years of animal rescues, prosthetics, feather implants
Bengaluru's People For Animals Wildlife Hospital (PfA) has completed 30 years of rescuing and rehabilitating wildlife, from leopards to snakes. Its chief veterinarian, Col. Navaz Shariff (retd), says the hospital has developed…
The Story in Brief
Bengaluru's People For Animals Wildlife Hospital (PfA) has completed 30 years of rescuing and rehabilitating wildlife, from leopards to snakes. Its chief veterinarian, Col. Navaz Shariff (retd), says the hospital has developed a feather bank for imping, surgically implanting feathers from 32 species onto injured birds. The team also uses 3D-printed prosthetics for peacocks paralysed by electrocution, and has fitted a pony in Mysore and a calf in Romania with similar limbs. PfA has rescued 8,000 spectacled cobras displaced by urbanisation, and is awaiting permission to attach transmitters to released snakes for follow-up monitoring.
The Indian Opinion
Stories of prosthetic peacocks and feather banks warm hearts, but they also risk being dismissed as eccentric or low-priority. Animal welfare is not a luxury; urbanisation and power lines kill thousands of animals yearly. The real test is whether the government will replicate PfA’s model in other cities, and whether the public will fund feather banks and rescue boats. How many more such hospitals will we build before the next bird loses its wing to a kite string?
Source: thehindu.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
