Caught as chicks and kept as status symbol pets in the gardens of hotels and private homes, the birds were almost extinct. The destruction of their habitat for agriculture increased the pressure and by 2012 only about 300 remained in the wild.
Gray crowned cranes dance together as part of their mating ritual and mate them for life.
But the species has undergone a remarkable recovery in Rwanda thanks to local veterinarian and conservationist Olivier Nsengimana. In the capital of Rwanda, Kigali, Nsengimana found it strange to hear cranes calling from people’s gardens, while wild habitats had almost no birds. “I told myself someone had to do something about it,” he says. “Someone needs to make a change.”
Gray cranes are still in danger 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 considered a symbol of wealth and longevity in Rwanda, says Nsengimana. “People love them so much, but (the) lack of awareness is like too much love … it has created a threat.” Taking cranes out of the wild is illegal in Rwanda, but many pet owners were unaware that they were breaking the law.
In 2014, Nsengimana is working with the Rwandan government to launch an amnesty program that encourages owners to hand over their pets without fear of prosecution. He broadcast his message on national radio and asked pet owners to call him on his personal phone number. “I said, I know you like them too, we all love them, but if we keep them in our gardens … we’ll lose them.”
Crane owners across the country responded.
Since 2014, 242 gray-crowned cranes have been successfully rescued from captivity, Nsengimana said.
Last year, a census identified 881 gray crane cranes in Rwanda, Nsengimana said. He is “fairly confident” that there will be no more cranes in exile in the country.
“It’s really a great success story that we share with all Rwandans,” he says. “If we work together, if we can bring everyone on board, we can achieve the unattainable.”
The future for Rwanda’s gray crane cranes looks much safer, but can Nsengimana’s success be repeated elsewhere in Africa?
The international crane trade
According to Kerryn Morrison, director of Africa at the International Crane Foundation and senior manager of Africa at the Endangered Wildlife Trust, it is illegal to catch and trade gray cranes over most of their range.
But legal protection did not save the birds.
Across Africa, it is estimated that gray-crowned crane populations have dropped to 80% over the past 25 years, with only about 25,000 to 30,000 birds left, according to Morrison.
Gray crane 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 canal for cranes, supplying it to the Middle East and Asia.
Unfortunately, Morrison says Rwanda’s amnesty model is unlikely to work in other African countries. “You just do not see the same compliance with government policy as in Rwanda,” she says. However, raising awareness among local communities in Uganda and Kenya and training them to monitor cranes has led to some success in reducing poaching.
Nsengimana says although cranes are not migratory, they do move across borders and a “giant” joint effort will be needed to remove them from the list of endangered species.
“When I was little, I saw cranes really exist with people and … I want the balance to come again,” says Nsengimana. “We want people to see cranes as part of them, as their friends, as a part of their lives.”