Trapped as chicks and kept as status-symbol pets in the gardens of hotels and private homes, the birds were almost wiped out. The destruction of their habitat for agriculture increased the pressure, and in 2012 there were only about 300 left in the wild.
Gray crowned cranes dance together as part of their mating ritual and often mate for life.
But the species has undergone a remarkable recovery in Rwanda thanks to local veterinarian and conservationist Olivier Nsengimana. Nsengimana, who lived in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, had found it strange to hear cranes calling from people’s gardens, while the wild habitats were almost devoid of birds. “I told myself someone should do something about it,” he says. “Someone has to change something.”
Gray crowned cranes are still at risk in other parts of Africa. Nsengimana says there is no “copy and paste” solution for all countries, but lessons can be learned from Rwanda’s success.
An amnesty
The majestic cranes are seen in Rwanda as “a symbol of wealth and long life,” says Nsengimana. “People love them so much, but (the) lack of consciousness is like too much love … it created a threat.” Taking cranes from the wild is illegal in Rwanda, but many pet owners were unaware that they were breaking the law.
In 2014, Nsengimana partnered with the Rwandan government to launch an amnesty program that encouraged owners to hand in their pets without fear of prosecution. He broadcast his message on national radio, asking pet owners to call him on his personal phone number. “I said, I know you love them too, we all love them, but if we keep them in our gardens … we’re going to lose them.”
Crane owners across the country responded.
As of 2014, 242 gray crowned cranes have been successfully rescued from captivity, Nsengimana says.
Last year, a census identified 881 gray crowned cranes in Rwanda, Nsengimana said. He is “reasonably certain” that there are no more captive cranes in the country.
“This is truly a huge success story that we share with all Rwandans,” he says. “If we work together, if we can get everyone on board, we can achieve the unattainable.”
The future for Rwanda’s gray crowned cranes looks much safer, but can Nsengimana’s success be replicated elsewhere in Africa?
The international crane trade
According to Kerryn Morrison, director for Africa at the International Crane Foundation and senior manager for Africa at the Endangered Wildlife Trust, it is illegal to catch and trade gray crowned cranes in most of their range.
But legal protection did not save the birds.
According to Morrison, populations of gray crowned cranes across Africa have declined by an estimated 80% in the last 25 years, with only about 25,000 to 30,000 birds left.
Gray crowned cranes are kept as pets across the continent, Morrison says. Law enforcement is often weak due to a lack of resources and a greater focus on protecting larger animals such as elephants and rhinos, she says.
Morrison says demand from the UAE has declined in recent years, but the country appears to remain a channel for cranes they supply to the Middle East and Asia.
Sadly, Morrison says Rwanda’s amnesty model is unlikely to work in other African countries. “You just don’t see the same adherence to government policy as in Rwanda,” she says. However, raising awareness among local communities in Uganda and Kenya and training them to track cranes has led to some success in reducing poaching.
Nsengimana says that while cranes do not migrate, they do travel across borders and that a “huge” concerted effort will be needed to remove them from the endangered species list.
“When I was a kid, I saw cranes really coexist with people and … I’d love to see that kind of balance return,” says Nsengimana. “We want people to see cranes as part of them, as their friends, as part of their lives.”