Indian Cormorant rescued from Shantinagar Rani Khola

Singtam, February 17: Arpan Pradhan, amateur biodiversity photographer from Shantinagar, Singtam rescued an Indian Cormorant from the fishing net thrown at the Rani Khola near Badminton Court, Shantinagar. He was returning home from the market; at the river Rani Khola, he saw two Indian Cormorants locally called Pani Haas taking a dip in the water.. Indian Cormorant is a winter bird that visits River Teesta at Singtam every year for fresh fish. 

He took his mobile camera and started to film the interesting water moment of the birds, he found that one of the birds flew off as soon as he got close to them from the walkway. The other bird was floating on the water sometimes getting inside the water. Arpan Pradhan thought it to be the bird’s play until he found that the poor bird was trapped in a thrown-away fishing net.

Since the bird was on the opposite side of the river, he saw a man walking on that side. He asked him to help the bird. The man reached the bird but was unable to free the bird so without a second thought Arpan jumped into the river water and went near the bird. The body of the bird was caught in the net and river water pulled it inside. After some time, the bird was rescued, even hurting one of the rescuers with its beak. The bird too had injuries.

Arpan Pradhan said he cannot explain the feeling after rescuing the bird. He is happy to see the bird flying after the horrific experience. He is the Youth Coordinator of Shantinagar Gaon Sudhar Samiti.