Kanpur: The story of bonding between Amethi's Arif Khan and stork-friend Saras created waves on social media. The stork was separated from Arif and rehabilitated at Kanpur Zoological Park. Efforts were on to release the crane to its natural habitat. But the Zoological Park has deferred the plan for the time being.
The stork staying with humans has led to a change in its behaviour. The bird still searches for human company. The crane was habituated to having cooked food. It was earlier taking noodles, khichadi, rice and daal. But over a period of time, the stork has begun taking raw food.
Speaking about the behavioural changes, Kanpur Zoo director KK Singh said, "It appears that the saras was staying with humans from the very beginning. Several changes have been seen in the stork following its rehabilitation at the Kanpur Zoo. But, what we see is that the bird still searches for the company of human beings. It runs towards humans whenever it sees them. It seems that the stork still wants to stay with humans. That's why we have deferred the plan of releasing the bird to its natural habitat. Suppose the saras is released in the natural habitat then it will be vulnerable to attack by dogs or other domesticated animals."
