In India, Calls Grow Louder to Reunite Sarus Crane With Man Who Rescued It

Fricking gobarmint

In March 2022, Gurjar discovered a crimson-throated Sarus crane that lay in a field shivering and bleeding from a broken leg. He brought it home and using traditional medicine, nursed it back to health in six weeks before setting it free

Gurjar thought that the bird would fly away as soon as it recovered. The wild bird, however, had no intention of leaving its new human friend.

"After I found the bird wounded, I nursed it well and performed the duty of a human being,” Gurjar, 30, told VOA. “Strangely enough, it did not fly away after its recovery. It chose to remain closer to me, and my emotional attachment to it grew. We became good friends.”

In one of the several videos of the pair that went viral online, the Sarus crane — which Gurjar simply calls "Sarus" — can be seen flying alongside him as he rides his motorcycle.

The two friends were separated, however, when Indian wildlife authorities confiscated the crane on March 21. Saying the Sarus crane — the world’s tallest flying bird — is classified as a "vulnerable" species and cannot be kept as a pet, authorities charged Gurjar under India's Wildlife Protection Act "for keeping an endangered bird at home."

On April 11, Gurjar was allowed to visit Sarus for the first time since the bird’s zoo confinement.

In a video documenting Gurjar's zoo visit that has evoked deep emotion in many viewers, Sarus can be seen flapping its wings frantically and jumping and flying around the cage upon seeing Gurjar — apparently attempting to rush out of the cage and reunite with its human friend.

During his visit to the zoo, Gurjar was allowed to stand outside Sarus' cage "just for five minutes," he said.

As of Tuesday afternoon, one of the petitions on Change.org, "Free the Sarus Crane Now!" had amassed more than 14,000 signatures. The online petition, started by Soumitra Pathare, is addressed to the Environment, Forest and Climate Change Department of Uttar Pradesh and emphasizes the distress plaguing the caged bird as it is away from its human friend.

"The crane committed no crime," the petition said. "Is being friendly with human beings a crime? Why is the bird being punished for no reason? It has lost its freedom and is clearly distressed and unhappy in the cage."

Gurjar has not returned to his village since seeing Sarus at the zoo.

"Sarus became the center of my universe since it chose me as a friend. My house feels empty now that it's gone. … Sometimes I also hold myself responsible for it ending up confined in a cage, and it makes me feel guilty," Gurjar said Tuesday from a friend's place in Lucknow, 150 kilometers away.