Monday, May 05, 2008
Red-headed cranes may leave Vietnam
Red-headed cranes may leave Vietnam
15:16' 02/05/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge - The four-day fire (May 22-25) at Tram Chim-Tam Nong
National Park in the southern province of Dong Thap destroyed hundreds
of hectares of a special kind of grass called co nan, a favourite source
of sustenance for red-headed cranes, an endangered species in Vietnam's
and the world's Red Book.
Pham Anh Dung, an official of the HCM City Zoo, said in Vietnam,
red-headed cranes mainly live in the Tram Chim-Tam Nong National Park
and the number of cranes is decreasing. Previously the park had several
hundred cranes, but they now number less than 100.
Because of forest fires, co nan areas are being narrowed. If the
situation is not improved, red-headed cranes will leave Vietnam one day.
The recent fire at Tram Chim is guessed to have been caused by local
people who entered the park to seek bee honey and catch fish. They might
have been detected by forest guards and started a fire to divert
rangers'
attention.
The red-headed crane is one of the largest of its kind, standing
approximately 1.75m tall and weighing 8.7kg. The birds have an average
wingspan of 2.5m. These cranes, once prevalent in all of Southeast Asia,
can now only be found in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. It is estimated
that over 200 of the birds live in An Giang, Dong Thap, Kien Giang and
Dak Lak provinces in Vietnam.
Pham Cuong
