Cranes — Africa

“In 2014, Rwandan veterinarian Olivier Nsengimana, a Rolex Young Laureate award winner, began a groundbreaking public awareness and amnesty campaign to tackle the problem... To date, more than 190 captive cranes have been registered and removed from mostly substandard conditions. Each registered bird is evaluated for its potential to be safely reintroduced into the wild. The goal is to repatriate birds at Akagera National Park in eastern Rwanda and to bolster wild crane populations there. Of course, reintroduction of these fragile cranes is gradual, as most have little experience as free-ranging birds. The prolonged reintroduction occurs in close proximity to park headquarters where protection is provided and threats from predators are minimal.

“Fourty three is the number of Grey Crowned Cranes that died on the banks of the Luangwa River on August 16, 2015. That is the number of lost biodiversity due toa single incident, nearly 10 percent of the South Luangwa National Park’s Grey Crowned Cranes local population. That morning, as the local veterinarian and ecologist were making their rounds, they stumbled upon an entire flock of Grey Crowned Cranes, out of which 35 were already dead. The remaining eight attempt- ed to fly away but were too weak to do so and died shortly after. The cause of death was found to be poison.”

“As Rwanda has developed over the past decade, members of its ruling elite have coveted cranes as symbols of that progress – to the point where this emblem of plenty is the opposite of plentiful... The cranes you see over garden walls and in hotel compounds in Kigali come from Rugezi Marsh, a nominally protected area next to the Ugandan border in the north of the country... Nsengimana [a young Rwandan veterinarian] knows the crane problem is a highly sensitive subject andhe must tread carefully. But this year, at the risk of ruffling feathers in high places,he has gone on the offensive. With the backing of the Tourism and Conservation Department of the Rwanda Development Board, he called an amnesty on crane ownership, reinforced by a campaign across television, radio and newspapers that will keep him busy until Christmas. ‘We are encouraging people to self-report. We want them to understand why it is a good initiative,’ he said. ‘Then it will be self-sustaining and have a future.’ Cranes that are declared will be added to a database and marked with a leg band. Once the amnesty is over any crane found without a band will be declared illegal and its owner prosecuted.”

“The Black Crowned Crane (Balearica pavonina) is one of the most striking birdsof the Sahel region, with scattered populations occurring from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east.... The species was historically widespread across its large range, which spans some 27 countries, but numbers have decreased dramatically since the 1970s. The bird no longer occurs in some countries, such as Nigeria, except perhaps for occasional seasonal visitors from Chad.... The main factors causing the decline are considered to be habitat loss, domestication and illegal tradeof live birds.... The coastal rice-growing zone of western West Africa remains an important stronghold for the species – a zone that has been affected by recent wars, poor infrastructure and a lack of resources and capacity for conservation.”

‘”We’ve got two pairs nesting in here at the moment,’ Smith, a senior field officer with the African Crane Conservation Programme told IPS... There are an estimated 80 breeding pairs of wattled cranes remaining in South Africa. The total South African population is less than 260. To maintain Umgeni Vlei’s biodiversity and protect the regal cranes’ habitat, the South African government declared the reserve in April this year, giving it special protection as a ‘wetland of international importance’ under the Ramsar Convention, an international treaty on the protection of wetlands... South Africa’s population of wattled cranes dwindled through the 1980s, largely due to deaths related to flying into power lines, as well as intentional and unintentional poisoning, Smith said. Population numbers bottomed out in the early 2000s and have gradually increased since, thanks to conservation efforts and increased tagging of power lines, she said.”

“The Nyabarongo wetlands IBA is a series of marshes in the flood-plain of the Nyabarongo river, the longest river in Rwanda... The wetlands were being exploited unsustainably, leading to environmental degradation and increased poverty. Working with the local community, the Association pour la Conservation de la Nature au Rwanda (ACNR), the BirdLife Partner in Rwanda, has supported the development of a local cooperative, CEDINYA. By building the capacity of this institution, helping them to defend their resources against illegal use by outsiders, raising awarenessof relevant legislation, providing training in the production of high quality products made from materials harvested from the wetland, and helping to provide access to new markets, the project has benefitted both biodiversity and the local community... The reduction in pressure on the wetlands has significantly and directly contributed to the conservation of threatened species. Most notably, the Vulnerable Grey Crowned-crane (Balearica regulorum), which had disappeared from the area after being illegally hunted for meat and for private collections, has now returned to the marshes.”

“Many cranes, particularly African species—grey crowned, blue, demoiselle and wattled cranes—are killed in great numbers by farmers through intentional poisoning to prevent crop damage. Detrimental affects due to chemical and organic environmental toxins from household, agricultural and industrial pollution are of longterm concern because they degrade prime wetland habitat by affecting water quality and tainting aquatic invertebrates and fish that are eaten.”

“Thoko Masina was set to take her first flight in a plane this week to collect her ‘babies’ in KwaZulu- Natal - two newborn wattled cranes who will identify her as their mom at Johannesburg Zoo. The chicks are the result of a record breeding season this year for the critically endangered species, which the zoo, through its captive breeding project, hopes to save from extinction by ultimately releasing their offspring into the wild. Last week, two chicks, dubbed Snow Shoes and Dex, were flown in from KZN, at just a few days old, to be hand-raised by surrogate mother Masina.”

“When a pair of critically endangered wattled cranes began returning to their former nesting grounds in a KZN wetland two years ago, conservationists knew the degraded marsh was finally returning to its once pristine state... This wetland, near Howick [South Africa], didn’t always look this good. Farmers once drained parts of it to plant crops, and in recent decades paper company Mondi covered it with plantation trees. But in the past five years the MWP and Working for Wetlands, with government funding, have erected a series of weirs to deactivate erosion of the wetland and to stop it from ultimately drying out.”

“Overall estimates suggest that the species’s global population has declined from over 100,000 individuals in 1985 to 50,000-64,000 individuals in 2004. This implies that the species may have declined by over 50% in 19 years, and when these data are extrapolated to a period of 45 years in the past (1967-2012) or past and future (1985-2030), assuming an exponential trend, the calculated rate of decline is c.65-79%. Declines are attributed primarily to habitat loss and fragmentation and illegal removal of birds and eggs from the wild for food, traditional use, domestication and the international illegal trade market.”

“Mpumalanga province declared its first internationally protected wetlands on WorldWetlands Day on Wednesday. The Verloren Vallei Nature Reserve, 10km north ofDullstroom, is the province’s first proposed Ramsar site. This means it will be recognised internationally as a wetland system of importance, and will be protectedagainst degradation and development... The Dullstroom area is the breeding homeof two of South Africa’s most endangered bird species, the wattled and blue cranes.‘Wattled cranes are on the verge of becoming extinct in Mpumalanga,’ says Krige,‘and there are only about 250 of these large birds left in the whole of the country.

“The blue crane, South Africa’s already critically endangered national bird, has become the latest victim of poverty in the Eastern Cape. Through a combinationof wars, drought and famine, Southern Africa’s blue crane population has rapidly dwindled from 10 000 to 20 000 in Southern Africa over the past 15 years, placing it near the top of the endangered species list. Now, in its last breeding ground in the Eastern Cape’s drought-prone Karoo and the north-east Cape regions, the blue crane is slowly being poisoned for food... In only one week last month, farmers and conservation officers found the remains of 20 cranes in Cradock’s Commando Drift Nature Reserve that had died after eating poisoned grain.”

“Lindy Rodwell has risen to this challenge [of protecting cranes] and has worked tirelessly to raise the profile of cranes and their plight. Spearheading crane conservation in South Africa, over the past decade, she has built up an ambitious programme that involves collaboration with both international and local communities, widespread public education, habitat protection and the release of captive bred birds into the wild... Lindy and her team have proven the effectiveness and viability of crane conservation programmes, and by working closely with local farmers, have done much to improve the prospects for South Africa’s three crane species... Lindy played a pivotal part in the establishment of The South African Crane Working Group, which is today a focal point for crane conservation efforts and environmen- tal education programmes in South Africa.”

“The Wattled Crane is the largest and rarest of the six African cranes. The threemain populations are in south-central Africa, with smaller populations found inEthiopia and South Africa. Over the last several decades, the species has been declining across much of its range.... Historically, the species was more abundant andmore widely distributed across southern Africa, with the greatest losses occurring inSouth Africa. The species as a whole is classified as Endangered under the revisedIUCN Red List criteria. The South Africa population is Critically endangered... Lossand degradation of wetlands constitute the most important threats to the species.Habitat loss in South Africa is due mainly to intensified agriculture, dam construction, industrialization, and other pressures. In other portions of the range, damsand other water development schemes have caused fundamental changes in thespecies’ floodplain habitats. Human disturbance at or near breeding sites is also amajor threat. ”