(CN) Zoo nurses ill feathered friends back to health

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http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/

by WANG LING

06/28/2001

 

HANGZHOU: Six hundred injured herons have recently taken refuge in Hangzhou

Zoo, in the capital of East China's Zhejiang Province.

Local police have been cracking down on traders of the birds, which are

protected at local provincial level. Some of the creatures collected were

still chicks.

 

" They are very sick. We are providing them with our best care and medical

treatment, but 40 per cent of them probably won't survive, " said Wang Fuyun,

an official at the zoo.

 

Local police said the herons were found in markets waiting to be sold by

illegal traders.

 

" They were packed in small cages and hadn't eaten for days, " said one

policeman.

 

" It will take a long time for these birds to recover, " said Wang.

 

" Hopefully, they will be better in a month or so. The chicks might need two

months, " he said.

 

All the herons will be put back in the wild after they are fully recovered.

 

Heron is a kind of migratory bird that lives in marshy areas near rivers,

lakes and ponds. They are very common in China. Thousands of herons migrate

every May to Hangzhou from the coastal regions of southern China. They stay

until October.

 

They normally survive in the marshlands by eating small fish. But they have

now become the target of heron hunters, who sell their feathers to adorn

hats and clothes. Local police said they were still looking for more

captured herons.

 

Scientists say that in recent years, herons have also had to face problems

such as the loss of nesting sites, deterioration of water quality and the

destruction of wetland habitat.

 

They say care must be taken to preserve shallow water habitats and feeding

areas.