Y.D. Gaur enforces one paramount rule at the speciality hospital where he works in New Delhi: No patient, once cured, is ever allowed to return home. Instead, they just fly away.
As chief veterinarian at the Indian capital’s 80-year-old Birds’ Hospital, Gaur deals with a daily influx of patients suffering a wide range of ailments, from ulcers and asthma to paralysis and tumors.
Those requiring extensive treatment are admitted and, in some cases, prepared for surgery, while others are dealt with on the spot and allowed to leave the same day.
PHOTO: AFP
Many are brought in by worried owners who must balance their concern for their pets with the knowledge that admitting them to the hospital means giving them away for good.
Since it opened in 1927, the hospital has operated a policy whereby all birds must be released after treatment, rather than returned to their owners or the person who brought them in.
The hospital is managed by followers of Jainism, one of the oldest religions originating in India, who believe that every living thing has a soul that is potentially divine.
Such is their commitment to avoid harming any living being that Jain monks wear masks over their mouths to avoid accidentally swallowing insects.
Funded entirely by private donations — all treatments are free — the three-story hospital has a dedicated following that never lets it go short of money, medicines or bird feed.
Bolstering the hospital’s reputation further is its startlingly clean environment, with no bird droppings or foul smells.
“It’s cleaner than many government hospitals,” said Rinki Patel, a housewife and first-time visitor to the facility that boasts an operating room, an intensive care unit and a general ward.
At any one time, the hospital looks after 3,000 to 5,000 “resident” patients.
The most common are pigeons, doves, parrots and budgies, with the odd peacock to brighten things up.
The seriously ill are put into intensive care on the first floor, where they have a cage to themselves. On other “wards” dozens of birds share large cages.
Broken wings and bones are carefully set and bandaged. Those in “post operative care” are dosed with antibiotics and carefully monitored for infections. Those too weak to eat are hand fed.
“That bird has paralysis caused by a virus,” Gaur said, pointing to a black pigeon.
“It looks as if it has just cocked its head or twisted its neck, but it’s a serious condition. Some nerve soothing medication will cure it,” he said.
The hospital claims a recovery rate of 90 percent.
Common injuries include those caused by children throwing stones, or birds getting caught in the blades of ventilators or ceiling fans, but some ailments require highly specialized treatment.
“Recently we operated on two peacocks with eye tumors. The growth was removed in both cases. One was as big as a tennis ball,” Gaur said, adding that both patients were well on the way to recovery.
Delhi’s high pollution levels have also led to a rise in avian asthma cases. All patients are put on a high-nutrient diet of seeds, grain, fruits and vegetables during their stay.
“We have had some eagles as patients. But they were also kept on a vegetarian diet,” said Gaur’s assistant vet, Vinod Kumar.
Once a week, those deemed to have recovered are taken to the hospital roof to be set free, although a fair number opt to resist the call of the wild.
“Though we encourage them to fly, only a few do. Others stay back because they are used to the easily available food here,” Kumar said. “They show no inclination to leave.”
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because