This Man In UP Has A Sarus As A Pet

AMETHI, (IANS) – Ever heard of a man having a sarus as a pet?

Well, Mohd Arif in Amethi does have one though it is not entirely by choice. The 30-year-old, spotted a badly injured sarus in a field last year. The Sarus is a wild bird under the Wildlife Protection Act.

“The bird was bleeding profusely in its right leg and was in a lot of pain. I picked it up and brought the bird home. I put some medicine on its leg and applied a plaster by fixing a bamboo stick and covering it with a bandage. I have an outhouse, basically a shed with a tin roof where the bird was kept,” Arif said.

The bird took some time to recover.

“During the day, when I left for my work, the crane would hop around and mingle with other birds. But when I came home in the evening, he would come to me, cuddle me and we ate dinner together,” Arif said.

By April, the bird had fully recovered but it refused to leave his home. “Life has not been the same since then. Now, wherever I go, the sarus, whom everyone calls ‘Bachcha’, accompanies me. The bird takes a stroll when I am working and then we both have lunch together before returning home in the evening,” he adds.

He said, “People stare at us and take our photographs. Some even make reels but now I enjoy the stares.” During winter, other sarus cranes arrived in the area but “Bachcha” did not go back with them.

Asked about its diet, Arif said it eats anything that is given.

Strangely, the crane’s love for Arif does not extend to his family members.

Arif’s wife Mehrunissa said, “In the absence of my husband, whenever I have gone to feed him, I have been attacked. Neither I nor my two kids, dare go near the sarus.”

Wildlife experts advise caution. Sarus cranes are regarded as the least social crane species. They can be very protective when nesting and are aggressive toward intruders.