Wayanad landslides | Pet parrot’s warning helps Chooralmala resident save his family, neighbours: Report

Wayanad landslides: Birds are known to have strong instincts to foresee natural phenomena and it has been often seen that they warn humans about disasters.

According to a report byonmanorama.com,a pet parrot named ‘Kingini’ warned owner KM Vinod, a resident of Chooralmala in Wayanad, about the imminent natural disaster.

Wayanad district of Kerala recently witnessed devastating landslides that killed hundreds and thousands were left homeless.

The massive landslides hit Chooralmala and Mundakkai of Wayanad on July 30.

“The parrot’s warning helped Vinod save the families of several neighbours and friends,” said the report.

The day before the landslide, Vinod and his family had shifted to his sister Nanda's house. They also took Kingini with them.

“Early next day, before the second landslide, Kingini began creating a ruckus inside its cage. The parrot screeched loudly and hit the iron cage violently so that its feathers began to come off,” the report quoted Vinod as saying.

After seeing Kingini’s actions, he realised that something was seriously wrong.

“As I was aware of the situation in Chooralmala, I immediately called my neighbours Jijin, Prasanth and Ashkar. They were all sleeping and woke up to attend my call. Being awake, they looked outside their houses and saw muddy water flowing. All the families evacuated their houses and shifted to a safe place,” said Vinod.

Death Toll

According to Kerala health ministry data, the death toll stands at 308 as of August 2.

As many as 220 bodies have been recovered and 180 people are still missing as of Sunday.

On Monday, the Wayanad district administration organised a mass burial ceremony in which the body parts of unidentified victims killed in the disaster were buried in the Puthumala region.

A prayer of all religions was also conducted before the burial ceremony.

Meanwhile, the rescue and relief operations in landslide-hit areas of Wayanad entered the seventh consecutive day on Monday.