Rare Sarus cranes return to the wild

New chapter: One of the 13 Eastern Sarus cranes being coaxed to fly away upon the release of the birds over the Huai Chorakhe Mak reservoir in Buriram. — AFP

As the sun came up, 13 Thai Eastern Sarus cranes were released over a rippling reservoir in northeast Thailand, the latest effort to revive the almost-extinct species in the kingdom.

More commonly known as Thai cranes, the birds nearly disappeared from the country roughly 50 years ago – they were last spotted in the wild in 1968 – before a collaboration between the Thai government, Nakhon Ratchasima Zoo and United Nations to save them.