Indian wildlife activists have rescued a stork, which was starving for nearly a week with a ‘plastic ring’ stuck around its beak.<br /><br />Manoj Nair, a bird watcher, had snapped the male black-necked stork on June 7 at Basai, a noted wetland in Gurgaon. <br /><br />The photo shared by Chintan, an environmental group, had gone viral drawing international attention to the plight of the stork whose beak had been sealed by a plastic ring. <br /><br />Haryana officials and wildlife activists from various organisations mounted a frantic rescue effort the very next day. <br /><br />Though they made multiple attempts over several days the bird managed to elude them. <br /><br />Two rescuers Rakesh Ahlawat and Sonu Dalal of Nature Conservation Foundation spotted the bird on June 3 and ran behind it for nearly 100 metres. <br /><br />“We managed to catch it as the bird had become weak without food,” said Ahlawat. “The ring easily slid off the exhausted stork's beak,” he added.<br /><br />The plastic ring, which had threatened to kill the bird, turned out to be a rubber stopper with holes.<br /><br />Activists said the rubber stopper had probably come from a bottle and would have slipped around the stork's beak when it was hunting in the water.<br /><br />The stork recovered remarkably and is being fed with small fish at a local bird sanctuary.<br /><br />It is being kept under observation and is expected to be released into the wild soon.<br /><br />Black-necked stork is classified as "near-threatened" and is native to some parts of India.<br /><br />Activists said the incident, yet again, highlights the menace posed by plastic.
