A Russian newspaper on Wednesday ran a feature about Taiwan’s efforts to protect a young Siberian crane that arrived in northern Taiwan wetlands after getting lost in December last year.
The Siberian Times said that the one-year-old bird has become a minor celebrity and attracts hundreds of visitors per week and even has its own Facebook page.
The white bird — which is a member of a critically endangered species — landed in wetlands in northern New Taipei City five months ago, the report said. It has since been given a government guard after winning the hearts of locals.
Managing to survive attacks from hawks and even stray dogs, the male crane is the first-ever to land in Taiwan and has been given “coveted protection status,” the daily said.
It said that the government has hired a security detail to watch over the bird every day from 9am until 5pm, with more than 100 people going to see it every day.
The site now has a video camera set up to allow people to watch it and there is a fan page for the crane on Facebook, organized by a non-governmental organization, the Siberian Times said.
“The government and people have done a lot to ensure the safe stay of the crane,” the daily quoted ornithologist and National Taiwan University School of Forestry and Resource Conservation associate professor Ding Tzung-su (丁宗蘇) as saying. “The most complete and up-to-date information about it is kept on the Facebook page, where volunteers write a daily log on all its activities.”
The cranes, which come from eastern Russia, normally migrate to Poyang Lake in central China for the winter. However, their normal winter habitat has been damaged as a result of construction for the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River.
It is likely to have become disorientated and instead flew to the Cingshuei Wetlands (清水溼地) in New Taipei City’s Jinshan District (金山) on Dec. 13 last year, three days after stopping on Pengjia Islet (彭佳嶼) north of Keelung.
There is also a theory that the young bird might have become separated from a flock.
Ding said the bird might have to stay in Taiwan for the foreseeable future, particularly since the region is affected by bird flu and officials do not want to risk the disease spreading or put the crane in danger.
“We thought the crane might leave this spring, but unfortunately it is still around,” Ding was quoted as saying by the Siberian Times.
“We discussed the possibility of escorting the bird back to its breeding or wintering grounds, but any international transfer of the Siberian crane needs approval of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, and Taiwan is an infected area of avian flu, making it virtually impossible to send it back to Siberia or China. So we can only wait and see,” he added.
Documentary maker Chang Po-chun (張博鈞) said “it is our duty as citizens of the planet to ensure our guest enjoys another winter here safely so it will be able to rejoin its flock and fly back to the north and have its own offspring.”
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