Among the wildlife in need of Animal Rahat’s services last month was this stunning bird (below), a black-winged kite, who was found helplessly dangling from a tree with her legs entangled in … kite string.

Kites are hawk-like birds, and there is some debate as to whether they were named for their resemblance to soaring paper kites or whether paper kites were named after the soaring birds. In any case, it’s a wretched irony that kite strings can doom their living counterparts and cause their literal downfall.

An Animal Rahat staffer carefully cut this bird down, gently removed the string from her legs, checked to make sure that she had no injuries, gave her water, and released her to soar back up into the heavens again.

Animal Rahat staffers were speaking to a gathering of bullock owners when they noticed that the people in front of a nearby house seemed upset by something. It turned out that they were planning to kill a snake who was trying to enter the house. Our staffers immediately intervened and caught and released the snake, a harmless striped keelback, into the jungle after first explaining to the crowd that killing snakes is a punishable offense in violation of federal wildlife-protection regulations.