GUWAHATI: Four-month-old Boom is back where it should be, in the lap of nature with its brethren, after undergoing treatment for a fractured leg since January 20 when it fell off from a tall nesting tree at Dadara village in Kamrup district of Assam.
It happened to be 13th such chick of endangered Greater Adjutant Stork (GAS) which have been rescued and rehabilitated by the team of Aaranyak, a bio-diversity conservation organisation, that runs a GAS conservation project in Dadara and Pacharia villages in Kamrup district of Assam.
Thanks to the expert care of the vets, M L Smith and Panchami Sarma, in Assam State Zoo veterinary hospital, Boom could be on its feet once again after that grave fall. The rehabilitated chick of the endangered Greater Adjutant Stork (GAS) has been released to the nature at Boragaon area at the outskirt of Guwahati city where there are a number of resident GASs.
It was released back to the nature by a Class VII student, Chandril Mahanta, of Sarla Birla Gyanjyoti Academy here.
The GAS chick was from Dadra village where one of the rare nesting colonies of the globally endangered bird exists.
Aaranyak’s biologist in-charge of the stork conservation project, Purnima Devi Barman said rehabilitation of the gravely injured chick would not have been possible if not for the cooperation from veterinary doctors in Assam State Zoo and the police administration of Kamrup district especially Superintendent of Police Partha Sarathi Mahanta who was posted there till last month.
The senior police officer along with his wife Indrani Barua, the incumbent SP of the district, was there during the release of the rehabilitated chick and promised continued support to the GAS conservation project of Aaranyak.
“It is amazing to see how Purnima Dev Barman of Aaranyak has elicited support from the entire village community towards the GAS conservation project. It is moving and my support will be always there for the greater cause,” Mahanta said.
Purnima said it was the 13th rehabilitated GAS chick to be released back to the nature after proper medical attention. She said since Adjutant storks set up nests on the top of very tall trees, occasionally chicks fall down to ground and get seriously injured.
The global distribution of adjutant stork, the rarest of the 20 species of storks, is confined to a few isolated pockets in the Brahmaputra valley of Assam, Bihar and Cambodia. In Assam, the bird mainly nests in private areas and conservation is mainly dependent on the efforts of the community. The global population of the species is only about 1,000, out of which about 80 per cent have been recorded in Assam.
For the last several years, Purnima has been working extensively to protect the bird that is mentioned on the IUCN red list. Around 750-800 storks have been recorded in Assam – the highest concentration in the world.
Purnima received the Future Conservationist Award 2009 from the Conservation Leadership Programme, UK, for working extensively in Dadara and Pacharia villages, 12 km from Guwahati.
About 148 nests were recorded in the area in a survey led by her.