Arif cried after meeting Saras after 20 days
Arif and Saras met on Tuesday after 20 days at the zoo in Kanpur. As soon as the stork saw his friend, he started jumping happily in his enclosure shouting. When Arif asked the stork to fly, it started flying inside the enclosure. The stork started flapping its wings while shaking its neck and taking out its beak.
Seeing all this, tears came from Arif’s eyes. A 2 minute 15 second video of the meeting between Arif and Saras has also surfaced. Arif was allowed to visit the zoo on April 9 after the quarantine period of the stork was over. Earlier on Monday, Arif had also met former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav. Akhilesh had tweeted – UP government should free the stork.
Arif went with SP MLA
Arif reached the zoo with SP MLA from Kanpur Amitabh Bajpai. Akhilesh Yadav, who came to Kanpur on March 27, also reached Kanpur Zoo to meet Saras. Due to Saras being quarantined, Akhilesh was shown to him from CCTV. Arif was also with Akhilesh at that time.
हुक्मरानों से है, परिंदों का बस यही कहना
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) April 10, 2023
आज़ाद कर दो, हमको पिंजरों में नहीं रहना pic.twitter.com/N37myZSFTU
Arif and Saras became friends 8 months ago
The friendship of Arif and Saras started in August 2022. Arif says- Like everyday I was going to work on my farm. Then I saw a big feather on the way. When I went a little further, a big stork was lying on the ground. At first I was scared to see him. Saw the stork for the first time in front. Its beak was very big. I was scared that it might kill me.
I stood there for some time. Was watching him continuously. He could not even move. He had an injury on his leg. Blood was coming out. Somehow mustering up the courage, I went to him. When I put my hand on him, he turned a little towards me. After this I gave water to the stork. Then took him to his farm. Tied the bandage by applying medicine on his leg. After that the stork was made to lie down on the side of the field.
After some time I was going to eat food. Then I looked at the stork. I thought to feed him something too, but was afraid that he might peck. That’s why I threw bread at him from a distance. which he ate After that gave one more roti. When I started going home, I called my younger brother. Together with him took the stork home.
There he was kept on the bed inside the house. Fed again at night. I kept doing this for about one and a half months. His leg got cured slowly with the help of homemade medicines. He was now walking on his feet. My fear was also over now. The other people of the house also did not scare him. When the stork recovered, I thought it would fly away, but it remained there.
The forest department was alerted when the story came on social media
Videos of friendship between Arif and Saras were continuously going viral. Hearing about this, on March 6, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav also reached Amethi to see this friendship. After social media posts and photographs of Saras and Arif with Akhilesh, the forest department was alerted and started the process of bringing back Saras.
The stork was first brought to Rae Bareilly, then to Kanpur Zoo
The stork was missing after flying in the bird sanctuary of Rae Bareilly. From here he was brought to Kanpur Zoo on 25 March. He was kept in Quarantine for 15 days. On completion of the quarantine period on April 9, Saras was made to meet Arif. After the completion of the quarantine, the stork has been shifted to the zoo’s enclosure.
