Friday, 26 April 2024
Friday, 26 April 2024
Arif rescued the crane in February 2022. He took the injured bird home and looked after it. The crane, which lived with Arif was taken away by Forest department officials on March 21. The bird lived with Arif, accompanied him to his fields and was accepted "like a family member". The bird was shifted to the Samaspur sanctuary in Rae Bareli to allow it to live in its natural environment and then shifted to Kanpur zoo. Time and again, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has pitched for the bird to be reunited with its caretaker. Yadav had visited Gurjar after he gained fame due to his "friendship" with the bird. He had also shared pictures of himself with the bird and Gurjar on social media.
The Forest Department issued a notice to Gurjar and asked him to appear at the office of the Gauriganj divisional forest officer on April 4 to record his statement. According to the notice issued by Assistant Divisional Forest Officer (Gauriganj) Ranvir Singh, Gurjar has been booked under relevant sections of the Wildlife Protection Act. A day after the bird was taken away, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav held a press conference during which he condemned the Forest department action and asked indirectly if any official had the courage to take away the peacocks at the prime minister's residence.
On March 28, SP chief and Arif was denied to see the bird at the Kanpur zoo with officials telling them it was under quarantine. The Samajwadi Party chief was told that the bird is under 15-day quarantine and a team of doctors is keeping a close watch on its health, a senior forest department official said, requesting anonymity. The official, however, added the two spent about an hour there and saw the sarus on CCTV screens.
On April 12, three weeks after UP forest department took the bird away from Arif's house, he was allowed to meet the crane in Kanpur zoo. Their reunion was amazing to witness. A video of their meeting, released on social, shows how the bird kept moving his neck and fluterring its wings after seeing Arif, as if trying to walk out of the cage it was kept in. Their encounter was short and lasted only 5 mins.
According to media reports, Arif said that the crane was stressed that he couldn't meet him properly outside the enclosuer and that he was anxiously flapping its wings. Arif also said that he was worried that the crane might injure itself by hitting the net.
Amitabh Bajpai, member of the Samajwadi Party met Kanpur zoo offcials on March 27 and asked them to take good care of the crane. Divisional Forest Officer DN Singh had said, "Whatever action has been taken is with Arif's (Gurjar) consent." The official said these birds always live in pairs. Since this one was living alone, there was some apprehension about its wellbeing.
Arif with the sarus crane in his house.
The crane even used to eat from his plate. BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Wednesday pitched for the release of a sarus crane from sanctuary and reuniting it with Arif Khan, who had recused and nursed the bird for around a year before the forest department took it away citing laws.
Their story is special, Varun Gandhi tweeted with the video of the crane fluttering around excitedly in its enclosure while looking at Arif, a resident of Mandkha village of Amethi district, who visited it recently in Kanpur zoo.
