Bhandup boy awarded for saving sparrows

Bhandup boy awarded for saving sparrows

Megha Pol : HT Live Thane - Mulund 

Mumbai, Sunday, March 27, 2011 . Page 1

Governor K Sankaranarayanan 

(left) honouring five-year-old 

Hitesh Yadav.  COURTESY: PAWS-Mumbai

BHANDUP: He may be only five but has already set a example for the elders. Hitesh Yadav of Bhandup was recently honoured by Maharashtra governor K Sankaranarayanan for regularly rescuing sparrows.

Yadav was honoured as ‘one of the youngest sparrow friends’ at Raj Bhavan on March 20, the event put together by Plant & Animals Welfare Society – Mumbai (PAWS-Mumbai) to make World Sparrow Day.

On March 18, Yadav rescued two young sparrows from a cat near his home and brought them to us, said PAWS founder and Secretary, Sunish Subramanian. “We saluted his efforts and decided to give him this award.”

S FOR SPARROW

As part of its Sparrow Conservation Mission, 

PAWS will launch a book ‘S for Sparrow’ on 

World Sparrow Day, 2012. The book will contain 

collection of poems, paintings and stoies related to 

sparrows from students, people and celebrities. 

Send your entries to s4sparrow@gmail.com. 

The top hundred entries will be published in the book. 

Yadav, a senior KG student of NES Sunbeam School, Bhandup, has been rescuing birds and turtles from the age of three. Subramanian said : “Near Hitesh’s house in Bhandup, there is a pipeline on which sparrows regularly build their nests. When the young ones grown up and learn to fly, they fall down in the first few attempts and become victims of the stray in the area. Yadav has often seen these young sparrows caught by cats. Thus a week ago, when two young once fell from their nests and were approached by a cat, he immediately picked them up and brought them to PAWS office.”

Yadav has also rescued a pigeon suffering from dehydration in his school premises by taking it to PAWS. “He never misses an opportunity to feed the birds with grains on his way to school. Even on day he is late for school he stops to feed the birds.” Subramanian added.

PAWS observed World Sparrow Day – India on March 20 by organising painting competitions based on sparrows for children.

PRESS Coverage  . HT Live Thane - Mulund  . March 27, 2011 Sunday .  Page 1 

      Double click on the "HT Live" to see larger image of the news article