Kanpur, Apr 24 (IANS): After almost two and a half months of controversy, the Kanpur Zoo has finally declared that the sarus crane found by Arif of Amethi in an injured state in February 2022 and nurtured back to health, is a female.

The gender was revealed from the DNA report that arrived from a Secunderabad lab.

Zoo officials said that they are now trying to find a suitable mate for the sarus.

Since it is a female, it is not likely that it will be released in the open.

The crane that had been living with Arif for the past one year, was taken from him by the forest department in March.

On April 16, Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) ornithologist Dr Rajat Bhargava took out a small feather from the chest of the crane and had sent it to Secunderabad for DNA examination and its gender was determined.

As per the zoo authorities, it will now be paired with a male sarus crane from the zoo.

Samples of four other sarus cranes in the zoo have been sent to the Secunderabad lab for gender testing.

"After the report arrives, the female sarus crane will initially be kept in an enclosure next to a male crane for socialisation and the behaviour of the female and its male counterparts will be monitored for 15 days. After that, it will be moved into the male crane's enclosure for mating," said Kanpur Zoo director K.K. Singh.