North Lakhimpur: Two young school children from Dhakuakhana in Lakhimpur district have saved a juvenile Lesser Adjutant stork (Leptoptilos javanicus) which was injured while making its maiden flight.
The incident took place in Konwar Gaon in Dhakuakhana when two school children Madhurjya Gogoi and Deepali Chetia of Class V found the injured bird and treated it before handing over it to a nature conservationist group on Thursday morning.
The young duo has been monitoring the birds on a Shimalu tree top in the village since their hatching and found one juvenile falling while making its maiden flight on December 26.
The student duo searched for the fallen and injured bird for three days and ultimately succeeded in finding them.
The rescued bird was taken by Pure Environment for Wildlife, a Dhakuakhana-based NGO by its members Mansh Pratim Dutta, Dhrubajyoti Chetia and Dharmeswar Nath to the Primary Veterinary Health Centre, Dhakuakhana for treatment and later handed over to the local forest department.
According to Pure Environment for Wildlife, the rescued juvenile Lesser Adjutant stork would be sent to Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre-Kaziranga.
Earlier the volunteers of Pure Environment for Wildlife rescued a Black Crowned Night Heron in Dhakuakhana.
The bird was found stuck on a fishing net erected on a pond in Bagichagaon in Sapekhati, Dhakuakhona on Christmas day Biman Handique of Pure Environment for Wildlife.
The bird was released to the wild by the local forest department after being treated.
Dhakuakhana region in Lakhimpur district is known for the diverse habitation of avian species including the Lesser Adjutant stork, an IUCN 3.1 vulnerable species along with the presence of migratory birds in the winter season.
Meanwhile, the Pure Environment for Wildlife has launched an awareness drive to keep the agriculture fields and water bodies of Dhakuakhana free from human intervention.
The conservationist NGO has put up awareness boards asking people and picnickers to throw plastic and glass bottles into the mustard fields rivers and wetlands across Dhakuakhana.