Bareilly (UP), Jul 15 (IANS): A pigeon caught in a kite string at about 60 feet above the ground, was rescued by Bareilly police in Izzatnagar area.

The police used a crane to reach the bird and the policemen untangled the kite string from the bird and even tended to its wounds.

According to report, the incident took place on Monday evening when constable Sandeep Kumar noticed a few people looking towards the sky, He saw that a pigeon was entangled in 'manjha' (kite string) in the air and was fiercely trying to free itself.

Kumar immediately informed sub-inspector Sunny Chaudhary and a rescue operation was initiated. A crane was called in to reach to the bird and the traffic was diverted for nearly 30 minutes until the rescue operation was over.

The Sub-Inspector said, "I felt that we should do everything possible to save its life and asked Sandeep to bring a crane immediately. When we brought the pigeon down, it had cuts around its wings and we applied ointment on the wounds. The bird stayed at the police station for a day and flew away on Tuesday after the wounds healed."

DIG Bareilly, Rajesh Pandey, said, "It is heartening to see that our officers exceeded the expectations of residents."

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Shailesh Pandey has announced a letter of commendation to the members of the rescue team.