Missing cranes return

Forest and Bird, Issue 281, 1 August 1996, Page 11

Missing cranes return

IN A PREVIOUS World watch article (Forest & Bird August 1994) we reported the disappearance of the tiny western flock of Siberian cranes from their traditional wintering ground in India’s Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur. This year, however, after two winters’ absence, excited

scientists reported that four birds had made it to the park. Numbers of the cranes, one of the world’s most endangered migratory birds, had been declining steadily at Bharatpur, and they were thought to have succumbed to poaching along their migratory flightpath which takes them from Siberia over Pakistan and Afghanistan. From 200 birds in 1960, numbers plummeted to zero in 1994 and 1995. The return provides a glimmer of optimism for the continued survival of the western flock. Only one other population of the crane exists, an eastern flock of about 3,000 breeding in eastern Siberia and wintering in China. However, these birds too are under threat — from fishing and hydroelectric projects on the Yangtze River.

slurry has killed wildlife and the sedimentation has made many of the surrounding waterways too shallow to navigate, thus destroying the way of life of the local inhabitants. The villagers hired a firm of Australian lawyers to sue BHP, which manages the Ok Tedi mine and has a majority shareholding. In an out-of-court settlement in June, BHP agreed to pay some A$550 million toward the costs of resettlement for ten villages, compensation for 30,000 landowners, and cleaning up the pollution. The company is investigating cleanup options and will submit its preferred option to the government and landowners later this year. Many environmentalists feel that the river system has been