It is a very unusual friendship that connects the Indian farmer Arif Gurjar (30) from Uttar Pradesh and “his” sarus crane. He saved the imposing bird and christened it after the species, “Sarus”.

As the US magazine “Insider” reported, citing an interview in the British “Times”, Arif found the bird injured on his farm. He immediately took care of the huge crane – Sarus cranes are considered to be the largest of their kind with a body length of at least 1.50 meters and a wingspan of about 2.40 meters – and nursed it back to health. So he treated his wounds with a mixture of mustard oil and turmeric, a proven household remedy, and bandaged them.

Crane stays with his rescuer

“At first he was walking very, very slowly. But after a month we removed the bandage and found that he was able to stand on his feet again,” said Arif.

He had firmly assumed that Sarus would fly away after his full recovery – but it turned out differently: a friendship was formed.

The crane didn’t think about leaving his rescuer again. On the contrary, he never left his side. As soon as his master made a scooter check of the farm, he accompanied him, as we can see on Twitter. Arif reported: “Some days he flies away but always returns at sunset.”

friendship without compulsion

The Indian also said that he does not restrict the crane in any way. Sarus runs and flies around completely free and stays with his self-chosen master because he wants to. “I know 100 percent that he won’t leave me. If he does, it will be very painful for me. But I know he won’t,” Arif says with conviction.