Rare red-headed crane dies in Tram Chim National Park

ABO/NDO – A 25-year-old male red-headed crane died at dawn on the morning of April 3 after six days under the care of staff at the Tram Chim National Park in Tam Nong district, in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap.

A male red-crowned crane in Tram Chim Park. (Photo courtesy to the Tram Chim National Park)

Deputy Director of Centre for Conservation and Development at Tram Chim National Park, Doan Van Nhanh, told Nhan Dan Online reporters that a local found the weak crane accompanied by a female bird but he was too weak to fly. Local people gathered to catch him and reported it to the Tram Chim National Park.

Staff at the park contacted veterinarians and international experts to assist them in saving the rare crane, which now stands on the brink of extinction.

"Normally, cranes should self-feed but for this individual, the centre’s staff had to feed it and offer constant care for him over the past six days. But at around 4 am Tuesday morning, they informed me that the crane had died," Nhanh said.

In 1998, a monitoring anklet was attached to the red-headed crane. He was around 25 years of age, the equivalent of a 70-year-old human.

The red-crowned cranes usually return to Tram Chim in the dry season, from January 15 to mid-May. Nhanh said that, at present, there are only about nine cranes in Tram Chim, including the male individual that has just died. This period is also witnessing the largest number of red-headed crane in the park.

(Source: NDO)