Best intentions & a heartbreak: The curious case of a sarus crane in UP

LUCKNOW: Not all stories have a villain. Or a hero. Out in the wild, there are rules - that need to be followed at all costs. The curious case of a rare friendship between a sarus crane and a man in UP's Amethi, their heartbreaking separation by wildlife officials and the crane's teething troubles in adjusting to the new wild surroundings need to be seen in that light and with a sense of detachment.
Mohammad Arif, 30, in Amethi's Jodhpur Mandkha village had saved the life of a badly injured sarus crane in February 2022. After full recovery in April of that year, the sarus, regarded as the least social crane species, chose to stay back and formed a close bond with Arif.
Recently, after Arif's reels with the sarus flying by his side went viral, the wildlife department intervened.
Sarus is protected under Schedule (II) of the Wildlife Protection Act and can't be domesticated. It is the state bird of UP. There would have been much at stake had the department not acted.
A team of forest department shifted the sarus crane to Samaspur bird sanctuary in Rae Bareli where the bird is facing troubles adjusting to the new surroundings.
Chief Wildlife Warden Sunil Chaudhary said that the priority of the department at present is to ensure proper treatment and care of the bird. Conservator, Endangered Species, Manoj Sonkar told TOI that a team has been constituted to watch the behaviour of the sarus for some time.
S onkar said the team will prepare a report which will be handed over to the chief wildlife warden, who would then decide where to keep the bird. The story also had its brush with politics. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav who had visited Arif ’s village to meet him tweeted about how the sarus crane had briefly gone missing following its rehabilitation in the Samaspur bird sanctuary. The forest department, however, confirmed that the bird is safe. The officials at the sanctuary did not deny that the bird has human impact since it has lived in human habitation for long. The monitoring team will find out exactly what and how much impact the bird has.
The sarus may be shifted to a zoo because it is domesticated and may be unfit for survival in the wild, a source said. Under the Wildlife Protection Act, if any wildlife is kept in captivity, it is considered a crime equivalent to hunting. There is a provision of an FIR in such a case. “Again, it is a matter of intention,” said sources in the department, adding that in this case, if the man was willing to harm the sarus, he could have done it much earlier. But that does not appear to be the case here, he said. People in general are not aware of wildlife-related rules and regulations. Enforcing them at times may sound cruel to the aggrieved parties, but somebody needs to do the hard part, an official said.