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Delhi’s Jain Bird Hospital is Free
Charity Birds Hospital in India is a 90-year-old institution.
© Jacques van Niekerk
At Charity Birds Hospital, a small staff takes care of approximately twenty-six hundred birds at a time, providing antibiotics, medicine, food, and a safe place to rest for injured or sick birds. The hospital is run entirely on donations, mostly from the Jain community, which follows the philosophy, “live and let live.”
BirdNote®
Delhi’s Jain Bird Hospital is Free
Written by Trisha Mukherjee
This is BirdNote.
[Sounds from the Charity Birds Hospital]
Near the center of Delhi, the capital of India, there’s a three story pink building that serves as an unusual type of hospital — not for people, but for birds. It’s called the Charity Birds Hospital and the institution is over 90 years old.
At Charity Birds Hospital, a small staff takes care of approximately twenty-six hundred birds at a time, providing antibiotics, medicine, food, and a safe place to rest for injured or sick birds.
Dr. Haravtar Singh, the lead veterinarian at the hospital, says the majority of the birds in the hospital are pigeons; but they also take care of parrots, kites, vultures and peacocks, depending on the season.
Haravtar Singh: Sometimes I feel like it’s me… So I think these birds are thankful to me.
A big city like Delhi can be perilous to birds; Dr. Singh notes that fans in the summertime can trap them and children’s kite strings slice into their wings. But anyone can bring a bird to Charity Birds Hospital, where they are cared for, completely for free.
The hospital is run entirely on donations, mostly from the Jain community, which follows the philosophy, “live and let live.” If the bird does recover, they’re brought to the roof of the hospital, where they’re given food, water, and other necessities. And at the very moment of their choosing, they take flight- a free bird, again.
For BirdNote, I’m Trisha Mukherjee.
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Senior Producer: John Kessler
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Bird sounds provided by Trisha Mukherjee and recorded by Dr. Haravtar Singh.
Additional recordings provided by Trisha Mukherjee.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2023 BirdNote April 2023
Narrator: Trisha Mukherjee
ID# hospital-01-2023-04-28 hospital-01
