Delhi's self-taught vets treating, rescuing injured birds

New Delhi [India], February 8 : Two brothers from Delhi named Nadeem Sehzaad and Mohammed Saud are self-taught vets who treat injured birds of prey. They have been rescuing birds for the last 19 years and so far, they have rescued 23,000 birds.
Nadeem Sehzaad said, "The name of our organisation is Wildlife rescue which is a charitable organisation. I've got it registered in 2010, but we have been involved in the treatment of these birds since 2003."
Telling about how they started treating the birds, Nadeem said, "In 1994-1995, we saw a kite bird who was injured and we took it to the nearest hospital, but they denied giving the treatment because the bird's diet was non-vegetarian and they don't use to give it. So, because of that, we kept the bird at the same places where we saw it first. We couldn't treat that bird then. Over the years, we used to get more birds. We couldn't take those birds because there was no such place where they can get treated. So, in 2003, we got a similar bird in similar condition and we thought of taking that bird along with us rather than leaving it there and asking a doctor to treat the bird at home. So, just like that, birds used to come and we treated them at home by calling veterinary doctors. This is how it started."

Mainly the bird's hospitals are in temples and it is not allowed to give meat in temples. That is why, they are not able to keep those birds, Nadeem told.
When asked about how did they manage during lockdown Nadeem said, "During the lockdown, it took two days for us to understand what is happening. Our hospital didn't take any birds for those two days. As we are a part of essential services, we provide medical aid to the animals. We have worked throughout the lockdown. Cases of birds getting injured through Manjha increased because people were free to pass the time flying kites. So, at the time of lockdown, our work got increased. Donations stopped coming due to lockdown as people were hit economically. Our situation is currently very bad financially. After the next 10 days, what do we have to make them eat, we are not sure if we will have money for that."
We have a staff of 5 people which is a veterinarian. He comes two days a week. We give first aid to birds when they came. We call doctors according to the case we have. In emergency cases, we call veterinary doctors immediately, Nadeem added.

Mohammed Saud said, "We have registered our charitable trust in 2010, but we have been doing this work before that. Since we have regained consciousness, we have always helped some other animal."
Who so ever come to us with birds, we never say no to them. We have a set-up for keeping birds of prey with us. We keep them and we send the other birds to different centres. The cases of birds come from the common public, veterinary hospitals, Delhi police, fire department, Delhi forest and wildlife department, NDMC, MCD. We get calls from here and receive the birds from them, Saud added.
We receive migratory birds as well and that depends on the season, Saud told.

Talking about the documentary which was made on them winning the World Cinema Grand Jury Award at Sundance Film Festival Saud said, 'The documentary is named 'All That Breathe'. Around 3 years, the shooting of the documentary took place. The premiere of the documentary happened at Sundance Film Festival and it was given World Cinema Grand Jury Award for the documentary. The premiere of the documentary is yet to take place in India'.
Here many people believe in the superstition that the birds of prey mainly owls, black kites are unlucky and a bad omen. We receive many calls regarding birds. There was an owl who used to sit at the electric wire in front of someone's house. So, the person called me and asked us to take the owl. When we asked why should we take our own, he said that he saw the owl once and he lost the job and later when the owl repeatedly came, his brother's business got closed and a few days later, his leg was fractured. He thinks that all of this is happening because of the owl because it sits outside his house's electric wire. Many incidents of these types have come, Saud further told.
The cases that came to us is first the birds that get injured because of kite flying thread (Manjha) which cause them to cut their muscle, tendons and bones. The procedure is to have surgery for their muscle repairing, the bone implant is also done if bones are cut. The technique of this is not much in practice in hospitals. We mainly focus on their orthopaedic surgery and we have specialisation in that. We have done a lot of research and have many successful cases, Saud said.
After the treatment, we again rehabilitate them and it depends on species to species as per government guidelines. The highly protected species are rehabilitated by government guidelines, he added.
The way cases have come to us, we started to read about them on the internet and we used to bring books about their treatment. Few veterinary doctors were also in touch with us. They work with us in our centre. We used to treat the birds with them and the research we do in orthopaedic surgeries, we do it with the doctors who are with us. The wing which is repaired, we have given presentation internationally and have told them the right way of wing repairment. We take and give training, he said.
Earlier, we didn't use to get donations. We even didn't know how to approach for donations. We learnt it with time and now our centre mainly runs on donation, he told.