Please Protect This Injured Gray Crane Chick

Yu Lian, reporter Shi Yunfei writes and photographsYesterday, volunteer conservators discovered a wounded gray crane chick downstream in the gray crane wintering area, foraging alone. After careful observation, this gray crane chick had a visible injury on its back, causing part of its feathers to be broken and bleeding, sticking together like a small stick protruding from its back. The injury it suffered was likely the reason it abandoned its migration, and it is estimated to stay in Jinzhou for a summer, reuniting with its companions when they return for winter in autumn.
During its identification and verification, it was found that this gray crane chick had a green band on its left foot and a tracking device on its right foot, indicating that it was a gray crane chick being tracked by a scientific research department. The volunteers immediately contacted the National Banding Center, learning that this gray crane chick was tracked by the Beijing Forestry University research team since early August last year in the western gray crane breeding ground. It was less than a year old, and it had a brother who was tracked simultaneously and has already migrated with the gray crane flock to the breeding ground. In recent days, it has been active in the wintering area normally, and can still fly at a speed of 30 kilometers per hour. The Beijing Forestry University research team still thought that there was a group of gray cranes staying in Jinzhou for winter, but this is the case. The photos of the gray crane were transmitted to the Beijing Forestry University research team for discussion, and it was believed that this gray crane was likely injured by poachers, losing its ability to migrate long distances, so it is very likely that it will stay in Jinzhou for the entire summer. The Jinzhou newspaper calls on citizens to come together to protect this little gray crane, so that it can return to Jinzhou safely and spend the summer, waiting for its family to return from afar to spend the winter together.