A team from Rohtak returned home on Saturday after the operation failed.
Two days after a black-necked stork with a bottleneck stuck on its beak was spotted by a birder in Gurgaon’s Basai wetland, a team of rescuers went looking for the bird again on Saturday morning. Unable to find the “near threatened category” bird, one last ditch effort will be made on Sunday, after which the rescue effort will be called off. A team from Rohtak returned home on Saturday after the operation failed.
“If we don’t find it on Sunday, chances of its survival will be very bleak. We couldn’t go back on Saturday evening due to the rain,” said Pankaj Gupta, a senior birder who is leading the team. The sudden change in weather, with rains lashing the city, hampered the search. “It would be hard to follow the dirt track in the fields of Najafgarh where the bird might be, due to the rain,” he said.
On Sunday morning, around 20 members of the Delhi Bird Photography society will head to Basai wetland, Najafgarh and Sultanpur to look for the stork. “Since it can’t open its beak due to the bottleneck, it would be very weak and probably resting… if it’s not found tomorrow, it won’t survive in all likelihood,” said birder Mathew Joseph.