PETA urges Madhya Pradesh to ban use of kite flying string

BHOPAL - People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has asked a senior Madhya Pradesh police officer to ban the manufacturing and use of glass-coated ‘manja’, a string used for kite flying, in the state as many birds die after getting entangled in it.

In a letter to state’s Director General of Police S.K. Rout, PETA said he should follow Mumbai Police Commissioner D. Sivanandan who, according to the animal rights group, issued a special police circular prohibiting the production and sale of glass-coated manja in the city.

“The manja, used in kite-flying competitions, is often gummed and coated with powdered and finely crushed glass which enables it to cut through an opponent’s kite line. Unfortunately, glass-coated manja is deadly to thousands of pigeons, crows, owls and other birds who become entangled in it. The birds’ wings are often severed, dooming the animals to an agonising death,” PETA’s campaign coordinator Ashish Verma said in the letter.

“Glass-coated manja can also be deadly for humans,” Verma told IANS.

He said in an incident in Mumbai, a stray manja nearly cut a child’s throat. In another incident, a resident was hospitalised after manja got wrapped round his neck while he was riding his scooter. Also, in Shirdi in Maharashtra, a teacher died after his throat was cut by manja.

“Flying kites with manja is definitely no fun for families who lose their loved ones or for birds who become entangled and die after getting injured by the glass-coated string,” Verma said.

The campaign “Cut the Glass-Coated Manja, Not Birds’ Wings” has been initiated “in order to save many precious human and birds’ lives in the coming season of kite flying”, he added.