The forest department has filed a case and issued a notice to an Uttar Pradesh man who rescued a Sarus crane and took care of it for a year, officials said. He has been asked to appear at the office of the Gauriganj divisional forest officer on April 4 to record his statement.

The forest department officials on March 21 took away the crane, which lived with Arif Khan Gurjar “like a family member” in the Mandkha village of Amethi district and accompanied him to his fields. The bird was shifted to the Samaspur sanctuary in Rae Bareli to allow it to live in its natural environment, an official had said.