The red-headed crane, a symbol of Tram Chim National Park in Tam Nong
district, Mekong delta Dong Thap province, were spotted to have less
visited the area than the previous years.
According
to local people, every year, red-headed or sarus cranes flock to Tram
Chim after the Lunar New Year festival when the flood waters recede.
However, since the beginning of 2013, only 50 red-headed cranes have
returned to the park – down 50 percent from the same period last year.
The park’s managing board said that the cranes muster
in areas of the 7,600 hectare park where their favourite food, water
chestnuts, can be found. But the food source is disappearing because of
the changing natural environment.
Nguyen Van Hung,
Director of Tram Chim National Park, said 50 returning cranes is very
low compared to the 1,052 birds that came to the park in 1988, referring
to climate change and shrinking wetlands as other causes of the fall.
This decrease in numbers is of alarm, for the
ecological balance of the wetlands and the national environment. The
number will continue to fall if urgent measures are not taken.
To deal with the situation, we need to do is improve the cranes’
habitat in Tram Chim National Park , where their food, water
chestnut, grows, Hung said
Then management,
especially the management of water sources, should be strengthened, so
as the park will welcome the return of hundreds of red-headed cranes in
the coming time, he added.
The red-headed crane,
with an average weight of 7-15 kilos, is listed in the World Red Book of
endangered species. The preservation of this rare bird needs more
efforts of not only national but international scientists and
managers.-VNA