Sarus crane, saved by man in India, taken to wildlife sanctuary

A rare Sarus crane that befriended an Indian man who saved it after being injured, has been taken from him and moved to a wildlife sanctuary. Officials in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh took the bird, which was nursed back to health by the farmer who had found the injured bird in his field a year ago. Sarus crane is the official "state bird" of Uttar Pradesh and it is illegal for people to keep Sarus cranes or feed them. The crane, after being brought back to health, had refused to leave the farmer. Their friendship was captured in videos that went viral globally.

It was reported that the Sarus crane flew away after being taken to Samaspur bird sanctuary. Videos of villagers feeding the bird also started going viral. However, officials deny that the bird is missing and say that it is "within the boundaries of the sanctuary".

"It's not been confined to a room but has been released in the sanctuary. It's finding food on its own, but we are also giving it wheat, bread and water," forest official Rupesh Srivastava told BBC Hindi.

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Mohammad Arif, who found the Sarus crane last year, said he thought the bird would fly away after recovering from the injury, but it never did. He said officials came to his home on Tuesday and told him that they had orders from the wildlife department to confiscate the bird.

"I don't know about wildlife laws. I'm a farmer. But if I had caged it, tied it up and hadn't allowed it to go anywhere, then I could understand the forest department would want to take it away," he said.

"But you saw that it flew around and came and went as it pleased. Did you ever see that I was restricting its movement?"

He says he followed the vehicle that carried the bird but was told to turn back. He fears that the bird might have been locked up, otherwise "it would have come back to me".

"I want it to be set free. I know it will return to me."

Meanwhile, the matter is also being given a political colourwith opposition leader Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party saying that the government was pursuing a vendetta after the farmer was pictured with the bird.

The Sarus crane is the tallest of all flying birds and can grow to a height of up to six feet. Experts say that the decision to move the Sarus crane to a sanctuary is in the best interests of the bird.

(With inputs from agencies)

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