On Saturday, March 25, a case was registered against a person named Mohammad Arif under the Wildlife Protection Act who gained media attention last year after he brought home an injured sarus crane he found in his village of Mandhka in Amethi district of Uttar Pradesh and took care of it.
Officials reportedly showed up at the home of farmer Mohammad Arif, who found the crane last year, on Tuesday afternoon and informed him that the bird could no longer stay with him. Arif said that the officials informed him that they had received orders from the wildlife department to confiscate the sarus crane. After shifting the bird to Samaspur bird sanctuary, it was later shifted to Kanpur Zoo.
30-year-old Mohammad Arif, a resident of Amethi’s Jodhpur Mandkha village, had saved the life of the badly injured sarus crane in February 2022, and took care of it by keeping it with him. After full recovery in April of that year, the sarus chose to stay back like a domesticated bird, forming a close bond with Arif. However, after reels Arif had posted on social media with the bird flying by his side went viral. When this was spotted by wildlife officials, they took action, took away the bird, and then went ahead to file an FIR against the man.
Sarus is protected under Schedule (II) of the Wildlife Protection Act and can’t be domesticated. Moreover, it is the state bird of Uttar Pradesh. Under the Wildlife Protection Act, if any wildlife is kept in captivity, it is considered a crime equivalent to hunting, and there is a provision for filing FIR in such cases.
The matter became political after Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav claimed that the bird was snatched from Arif because he had gone to Arif’s village to meet him. “Because I went to meet the man, the bird was snatched away from him. Is this democracy? The government should also take away peacocks from those who feed them,” the former UP chief minister said.
A day after the bird was brought to the sanctuary, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav stated in a tweet that the sarus crane was missing. He tagged a news article that claimed that the bird has gone missing. “The famous stork, which was forcibly taken away from Amethi by the UP Forest Department and released in the Samaspur Bird Sanctuary in Rae Bareilly, is now missing. Such government negligence towards the state bird of UP is a serious matter. The BJP government should immediately find the stork, otherwise the bird lovers of the whole world will agitate,” Yadav wrote in Hindi.
उप्र वन-विभाग द्वारा अमेठी से ज़बरदस्ती ले जाकर रायबरेली के समसपुर पक्षी विहार में छोड़ा गया ‘बहुचर्चित सारस’ अब लापता है। उप्र के राज्य-पक्षी के प्रति ऐसी सरकारी लापरवाही एक गंभीर विषय है।
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) March 23, 2023
भाजपा सरकार तत्काल सारस खोजे, नहीं तो पूरी दुनिया के पक्षी-प्रेमी आंदोलन करेंगे।… pic.twitter.com/MPaIlaKLgj
Taking a dig at the BJP govt for renaming places, Akhilesh Yadav said that the CM can give a name to the bird if he wants, but he should ensure that it is found and saved.
The Sarus crane reportedly flew away after being transported to the Samaspur bird sanctuary. Videos of locals feeding the bird also surfaced online. But the officials denied that it had gone missing, and asserted that the bird was inside the confines of the sanctuary.
“It’s not been confined to a room but has been released in the sanctuary. Although we provide it with water, wheat, and bread in addition to the food it finds on its own,” Rupesh Srivastava, a forest official, told BBC Hindi. However, after that, the bird was shifted to Kanpur Zoo as it was feared that it will not be able to survive in the wild as it has become domesticated after staying at Mohammad Arif’s house for a long time.
The team of Kanpur Zoo told that the sarus crane has been brought there by the team of Bird Sanctuary. It will remain in quarantine for 15 days. Following that, it will be let out in that large portion of the zoo where it can sit on the trees. The crane is totally healthy, according to the zoo administration, and is being monitored for 15 days as per protocol. Apart from the caretaker, no one else is allowed to get inside.
Akhilesh Yadav posted two videos showing the bird being transported to the zoo, and a video of the bird inside an enclosure at Kanpur Zoo. “The Sarus has been sent to Kanpur Zoo… Will Golu be sent to the Gorakhpur zoo as well?” he tweeted. By Golu, probably he was referring to Gullu, a pet dog owned by UP CM Yogi Adityanath. In an earlier tweet, he said, ‘A bird locked in a zoo… what kind of freedom is this?’
सारस को तो कानपुर चिड़ियाघर भेज दिया… क्या गोलू को भी गोरखपुर चिड़ियाघर भेजेंगे? pic.twitter.com/B88WOaWqNw
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) March 25, 2023
Meanwhile, Arif who still is hopeful of getting the sarus crane he named ‘baccha’ will return to him. He has been summoned by the Assistant Conservator of Forest, Ranveer Singh, to record his statement.
It is notable that Arif has been accused of flouting the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Sarus is also the ‘state bird’ of Uttar Pradesh and it is protected under Schedule IV of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. Sarus cranes are the world’s tallest flying birds, standing around 150 cm tall.
While technically Arif committed a crime, some forest officials are of the opinion that intention also should be considered before implementing laws. Arif had rescued the bird and kept it with him taking full care. Officials also point out that not everyone is aware of wildlife-related rules and regulations, and don’t know that they are not allowed to keep wild animals even if they have no intention to harm them or sell them.
