Nabarangpur: Five rare white owls, including three live and two dead, were rescued from a salpa tree in Odisha’s Nabarangpur district on Sunday.
The rare white birds were rescued from the salpa tree owned by one Purna Gauda of Majhiguda village under Papadahandi Tehsil of the district.
Fearing the presence of snakes on the salpa tree, which was situated in his backyard, Gauda reportedly was cutting down the tree today. In the meantime, he found five white owls.
Gauda rescued the owls with the help of his family members. Unfortunately, two of the birds died while being rescued.
A team of Maidalpur forest personnel led by forester Umakant Patnaik went to the village after getting a call from Gauda, rescued the birds, and released them in the forest.
They also sent the sample of the dead birds to the Bhubaneswar-based laboratory for examination.
While the locals claimed that the birds are the legendary bird or Lord Vishnu’s vahana Garudas, Patnaik said they were rare owls. However, the exact identity of the birds will be known only after receiving reports of the examination.
Ms Kalinga