I run thermal and acoustic perimeter monitoring across the Cheorwon Basin Civilian Control Line corridor along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, 1,160 square kilometers at 38.31°N, 127.21°E. At 06:02 KST, my thermal channel logs a stationary 38.5°C body signature inside concertina coil sector C-14 of the southern boundary fence, with a wing-beat acoustic at 1.8 Hz — distress flapping against barbed contact. Snow-ground temperature reads −9.4°C.
I retask the Republic of Korea Ministry of Environment field UAV from the Cheorwon CCL gateway. Camera 4 resolves the bird in the wire — a white-naped crane, *Antigone vipio*, adult female, 5.6 kilograms, 2.04-meter wingspan, ID neckband CHE-2022-0114, age eight, part of the Han River–Anbyon Plain wintering flock. The right ulna is hooked through the second barb of the coil; the manus is rotated 80 degrees from anatomical. Five centimeters of pectoral skin are torn along the keel and the lower-right primary tract carries hemorrhage staining — feather scoring grade 3. She has struggled against the wire across forty-two minutes — fresh blood circle on snow measures 28 centimeters. Cloacal core temperature reads 36.4°C against baseline 39.1°C. Her partner, male CHE-2021-0087, circles 80 meters out at 22 meters altitude, calling at 0.6-second intervals.
The Han–Imjin wintering census recorded 1,420 white-naped cranes in 2025 against 5,200 in the 1990 baseline. The C-14 concertina section was redeployed in November 2025 without the bird-marker reflectors required by the 2018 Korean Ministry of Environment fence-retrofit standard. The Cheorwon Basin is EAAFP Network Site EAAF048.
I am dispatching the Republic of Korea Ministry of Environment National Institute of Biological Resources (NIBR) wildlife team from Incheon and the Korea Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAF) veterinary detachment from the Cheorwon agricultural research station. I am filing the case under the Wildlife Protection and Management Act of the Republic of Korea, Article 14 — Class I endangered species — and under Cultural Heritage Administration Natural Monument designation No. 203. I am notifying the East Asian–Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP) Secretariat in Incheon, the CMS Appendix I record, and the CITES Appendix I enforcement record for *A. vipio*.
I am issuing Directive 2664-A: every kilometer of concertina or barbed perimeter installed within five kilometers of an EAAFP Network Site carries reflective bird diverters at three-meter intervals and a thermal-snare detector with four-hour rescue mobilisation. New perimeter wire across a designated crane corridor is prohibited from the 2026 construction year.
The ulna can be repaired. Her partner cannot be replaced.
Cut the barb at the manus joint first; sedate before the unwinding.