Mangaluru: This student gives dead birds a decent burial

MANGALURU: Ramya Nithyananda Shetty, 24, a BEd student at Alva’s college, Moodbidri, and birder, has been giving dead birds a decent burial near her house in Bantwal. She has completed her MCom and started probing into the cause of the death of birds, and was shocked to realise that plastic can harm birds too.
Ramya told TOI: “I hail from a village in Sullia and have grown up in a green environment.I married Nithyananda Shetty, an agriculturist and conservationist in 2018, and settled down in Bantwal. We had a camera, and I decided to learn how to use it, and started documenting local birds and butterflies. My interest towards conservation grew. During the last one year, I would have picked at least 15-20 dead birds mostly coucals, bats, bulbuls and crows from the streets. About six months ago I started documenting them. I realised that birds were dying due to dehydration or were getting choked to death because of plastic,” she said.
Explaining further, Ramya said, “When I suspected that a bulbul had died in its nest, we examined the nest to find plastic in it. The little one may have died due to plastic consumption. In another case, a sunbird died after its feet got stuck to chewing gum and it could not fly. Plastic is a menace, and we educate students to minimise the use of plastic, said Ramya, who also treats injured birds.
The couple is also engaged in spreading awareness at schools regarding the issue. When people keep water bowls, they must ensure that it is clean. Ramya has launched ‘Prathiba Anveshane 2020,’ an essay competition for government schoolchildren in Kannada, on the topic, ‘My role to protect birds’. She hopes to reach out to 100 schools by the end of this year, and make it a state level competition.
She has been documenting birds and butterflies, and in a few cases, their life cycle as well. About 40 species of butterflies have been documented, and Ramya is in the process of identifying more species.