A Chinese crane who escaped from her running a month and a half ago at the Zeijerveld is still free. Owner Jan van der Spoel does not expect the animal to come back. “She’s so far from home, I don’t think so,” he says.
The bird escaped the mesh at the top of the five -meter -high run after a storm. “The mesh was stuck with tyraps, who will probably have cured so that they tear loose,” says Van der Spoel.
Normally males and females of this bird species remain together all their lives. So that the female left is special, since she was in the run with a male. “That apparently didn’t click anymore, so she ran away.” The male is now also gone at Van der Spoel. “I did not find the female, and let another click with the male for years.” That is why Van der Spoel sold the male.
Just after her escape, the 1.5 meter bird floated around in the west of the country for a while, but then traveled to Germany. The last message that Van der Spoel has had about the bird is that she was spotted in Nordhorn. Which was also a month ago.
Van der Spoel thinks it is a shame that the bird has escaped, but thinks she will save herself. “I was afraid that she would crash, that didn’t happen, so that was a bright spot.” The Chinese crane crosses Germany every year to hibernate in Spain. “So I think she will join that.”
Van der Spoel is not yet done with Chinese cranes after the escape and the sale. “I’m going to buy a new couple,” he says. “They still have boy now, so when they are bigger I can pick up the couple.” He is happy that he has managed to find new birds again. “It’s a beautiful kind.”