Published:  00:00 Saturday - October 09, 2010

The Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, Japan, has presented the Hanoi Zoo a pair of cranes, a valuable and rare kind of bird listed in the world’s Red Book, as a gift to the city on the occasion of its 1,000th anniversary.

In a letter to the Hanoi Zoo, Teruyuki Komiya, Director of the Ueno Zoo, sent the most sincere compliments for the 1,000^th birthday of Vietnam’s capital and expressed wishes to strengthen friendship and co-operation with the Hanoi Zoo.

He also said the crane is a symbol for good luck and longevity. There are now 1,000 Japanese cranes living in the wild and 250 others in zoos, noted Mr. Komiya.

The two zoos are currently carrying out procedures to transfer the cranes from Japan to Vietnam. The national flag carrier, Vietnam Airlines, will transport them free of charge, said Nguyen Minh Hai, director of the carrier’s representative office in Japan.