Manja injures more birds each year since 2019, raptors hit hardest | Bengaluru News

Bengaluru: Hundreds of birds are injured each year by manja—the banned glass-and nylon-coated kite string—during the traditional kite-flying season around Sankranti, as a festive custom turns into a recurring wildlife crisis.Rescue data, accessed by TOI from the city’s PfA Wildlife Hospital, highlights the issue as a recurring problem that peaks between Jan and April. Manja-related rescues rose from 102 cases in 2019 to 790 in 2025.

“In 2025, Jan recorded 85 cases, Feb 87, March 76 and April 77 — accounting for nearly 40% of the year’s total rescues,” said Col Dr Navaz Shariff, general manager and chief wildlife veterinarian at PfA Wildlife Hospital. “Emergency calls surge daily during these months as birds and bats collide with nearly invisible strings strung across rooftops, roads and open spaces.” 422 black kites hurt in 2025 Species-wise data reveals that urban raptors bear the brunt of the injuries. “Black kites are the most affected, with 422 cases recorded in 2025, followed by house crows (147), pigeons (44), barn owls (38) and jungle crows (32). Several rescues involved egrets, herons, parakeets, owlets, and fruit bats. Many of these birds get entangled while flying at dusk or night, when nylon or glass-coated strings are the hardest to detect,” Shariff told TOI. Over the years, PfA has treated more than 11,000 injured black kites, making them the worst affected bird species in the city. Conservationists point out that the kite-flying season coincides with the fledging period, making young, inexperienced birds especially susceptible to manja injuries. Despite ban, manja availableKarnataka allows kite flying only with plain cotton thread, but illegal nylon and glass-coated strings are widely available during festivals. These cause horrible injuries to birds — from slit wings, deep cuts, fractured bones and permanent disabilities. The danger extends to humans too, as many cases of deep neck lacerations have been reported in the city. Specialised treatmentThe PfA Wildlife Hospital uses imping, a specialised feather-implantation technique to replace broken or missing feathers with naturally shed ones from the same species, to rehabilitate injured birds. This has reduced the rehabilitation period from months to days, or just 24 hours in some cases. More than 1,000 birds have been released back into the wild using this method in recent years. PfA has set up a community-driven Feather Bank, for which volunteers collect naturally fallen feathers from parks, rooftops, playgrounds and school premises. Thousands of feathers have been added to the bank in the last three years. The organisation rescues birds using specialised equipment, including interlocking poles that can reach birds stranded 80 to 120 feet above ground. PfA also educates citizens about the dangers of Chinese manja to birds, bats and humans as part of its “Kite vs Kites” campaign. BOXHow many rescued in city 2019: 102 cases2020: 177 cases 2021: 633 cases 2022: 409 cases 2023: 613 cases 2024: 469 cases 2025: 790 cases