Rare species birds freed at everglade sanctuary

BEIJING, April 26 -- Some rare, endangered birds were released back into the wild on Friday at Dahuangpu Everglade Sanctuary in Tianjin by the Tianjin Wildlife Caring Associationn (TWCA) after spending months being rehabilitated following illnesses and injuries sustained during migration.

According to Tianjin Wildlife Caring Association (TWCA), the freed birds -- including the nationally-protected Oriental White Stork, white swan and gray crane and geese.

Due to starvation, loss of physical strength or diseases, these birds were not able to continue their migration from north to south. The water follow a migration path from Inner Mongolia down the Yangtze River to the Boyang Lake Nature preserve in the Jiangxi Province in Southeast China. The weaker birds landed in northern Tianjin around December and were rescued and brought to the TWCA by Tianjin citizens.

Soundbite: Gao Deming, Director of TWCA “Dahuangpu is one of the well-conserved everglade sanctuary in Tianjin. We choose to free the birds there in order to have them adapt smoothly to the nature. Naturally birds will continue migration towards north afterwards.

There are only 3,000 Oriental White Storks left on earth.

Soundbite: Zhang Zhengwang, Zoology Professor of Life Science College of Beijing Normal University “Lots of waterfowl stop at Dahuangpu Everglade Sanctuary during migration, so some injured or ill birds can be found by citizens and be sent to rescue center.”

During the past year, TWCA received more than 1000 calls about animal protection, about 1000 birds were rescued and released back into the wild.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Tianjin.

(Source: XHTV)

See video at: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/26/content_11258770.htm