A brave animal rescuer climbed a 60-foot billboard in western India on May 11 to save a pigeon caught in a kite string.

A resident of Pune spotted the stricken bird and called in professional wildlife rescuer Saidas Kusal.

Kusal arrived on the scene with his team and sent one of his staff named Satish to retrieve the bird.

He climbed the 60-foot iron pillar supporting the advertising hoarding and carefully disentangled the pigeon, at times using only his feet to hold on.

Satish made it back to the ground safely with the bird.

After a quick examination, the team immediately released the pigeon as it was uninjured in the ordeal.

“The bird had been stranded for sometime and was growing limp. We were afraid it was being strangled and decided to act immediately," said Kusal.

"It was Satish’s sheer courage that saved a bird’s life,” he added.

Kite strings toughened with glue and glass powder kill thousands of birds every year in India.

A pigeon sat on top of a 60-feet tall billboard in Pune in western India and got entangled in a severed kite string.

It struggled to free itself and fly away but the kite string proved to be too strong. A passerby saw the poor bird dangling from the string and called rescued Saidas Kusal, who rushed to the spot with his team.

A team member Satish climbed to the top of the iron pillar supporting the hoarding.

He realised that to cut the string and catch the bird he needed to keep both his hands free, which meant he had to support himself with just his feet and body weight at that height.

Satish decided to go ahead and managed to free the bird, and come down with it, without losing his balance. The pigeon was freed immediately as it was found not to have any injury.

Saidas said: “The bird had been stranded for sometime and was growing limp. We were afraid it was being strangled and decided to act immediately, though we usually like to prepare better for rescue operations at such height. It was Satish’s sheer courage that saved a bird’s life.”

In India kite strings toughened with glue and glass powder kill thousands of birds every year.