Vietnam's Dong Thap to receive 6 more sarus cranes from Thailand for conservation

A delegation from the Dong Thap administration, accompanied by wildlife experts, traveled to Thailand on Sunday to receive six additional sarus cranes under the sarus crane conservation and development project for 2022-32, Phong said.

The cranes, comprising two males and four females, weigh between 5.3 and 6.7 kilograms each and are being raised at Nakhon Ratchasima Zoo in Chai Mongkhon, Thailand, Phong told news site VnExpress.

They are expected to be flown to Vietnam on Tuesday and later transported to the park for isolation and quarantine.

Four Thai specialists will accompany the transfer to monitor the birds’ health during transportation and oversee their initial adaptation to the new environment,

He added that the park has already completed all necessary preparations to receive the new batch.

The first group of six cranes, consisting of three males and three females, was brought from Thailand in April 2025 and has adapted well to conditions at the park, remaining healthy and developing steadily, with individual weights ranging from 5.4 to 7.2 kilograms.

The birds have already been paired, and conservation experts expect it will take more than a year for them to produce their first offspring, Phong told VnExpress.

With technical support from the International Crane Foundation and Thai specialists, the park has completed key procedures for the care and management of the species, Phong said.

Tran Phuong Vu, a veterinarian at the Center for Conservation and International Cooperation at the park, said the cranes have shown strong development after more than a year of care.

Their red head coloration has become more vivid, while behaviors such as foraging, flying, and dancing have become increasingly natural compared with when they first arrived, Vu said.

Following guidance from Thai experts, the park has reduced its reliance on industrial pellet feed and gradually increased the use of local natural food sources, including small fish, crickets, froglets, mealworms, and Eleocharis tubers harvested within the Tram Chim ecosystem, helping restore the cranes’ natural instincts.

According to the Vietnam News Agency, the aforementioned project aims to breed and release 100 cranes over a 10-year period, with at least 50 expected to survive, reproduce, and help establish a self-sustaining wild population in the park.