Wildlife Protection: Rescued emu to find a new home soon

“Emus like to live in the open. This one had been living in an enclosure for some time and was dehydrated when brought to us,” said Dr J C Khanna, Secretary of Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). The SPCA inspector and the hospital’s ward boy together rescued the creature after getting a tip-off from an animal lover, that it was living as a domesticated bird in a local Versova hutment.

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The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, allows emu farming for commercial purposes but domestication of a single emu is considered unethical as the bird tends to live in pairs or travel in flocks.

The lone emu was illegally brought from another village and was secretly kept in a six by six feet enclosure, made of bamboo sticks and dry grass, at a local resident’s (name withheld) hut.

“When our team reached there, he was ready to give up the animal as he could not maintain it well. Since he did not resist our attempts to rescue, we decided not to file any case against him,” said Khanna.

The bird was brought to the Parel-based hospital where a green cage with an earthen bowl in the middle, has been its home. The dehydrated animal was suffering from physiological ailments. For the next four days, it was given antibiotics, glucose and multi-vitamins to build its strength.

“The constricted space and lack of proper food weakened the emu. Earlier, it could not even stand. Now it runs around in the cage,” smiles Khanna.

The emu is now given a proper diet of grains.

The hospital staffers admit the bird is a rare sight in the premises where dogs and cats are the usual patients. Since the animal hospital has no open space for the bird to live, or rather run, freely, it will be transferred to Pune’s Emu Rescue and Rehabilitation Center by the weekend.

“We still haven’t named it,” said Khanna.

tabassum.barnagarwala@expressindia.com