Whooping Crane Killed

[Wingman]

Near Weiss Lake, Alabama. Found January 28th. This is the fourth one that has been killed. This will put the nail in the coffin on opening the Sandhill season in Tennessee I'm afraid. $6000 reward offered. I will post more info shortly.

[southernvaughan]

I was no where near that area on that day Rob. I swear!

[RedEyed Duck]

Thats pretty sad that some idiot has to go and do something like this. Can you legally shoot any crane in Alabama at the present time?

[bigwater]

Someone shoots a crane in Alabama. And Tennessee gets punished..
To quote a favorite line from o brother where r't thou.
"I don't get it big Dan"

[Wingman]

Someone shoots a crane in Alabama. And Tennessee gets punished..
To quote a favorite line from o brother where r't thou.
"I don't get it big Dan"

That's just my personal opinion, but for folks that have never had much contact with either, the bird lovers are saying that the whooper will more than likely be mistaken for the sandhill and I have to agree with them. When there are only 100 Whoopers in the wild in the Eastern Migratory Pop., it is a concern.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 9, 2011
Media contacts: Tom MacKenzie 404-679-7291 tom_mackenzie@fws.gov
Ultralight-led Whooping Crane Found Dead in Alabama
$6,000 Reward Offered for Information on the Killing of Whooping Crane 12-04

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating the death of a
whooping crane reported by an Alabama conservation officer at Weiss
Lake, in Cherokee County Ala., on Jan. 28, 2011. The lake is located
midway between Atlanta, Birmingham, and Chattanooga. Investigators
believe the crane was shot.
The male whooping crane, designated 12-04, was equipped with a
transmitter and leg bands to help track his movements. Trackers located
it in January with other whooping cranes in a Cherokee County field not
far from the lake where it was killed.
Scientists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Forensics Laboratory in
Ashland, Ore., are conducting a necropsy on the dead crane. It is the
only lab in the world dedicated to crimes against wildlife.
Raised in Wisconsin at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, whooping crane
12-04 learned how to migrate behind ultralight aircraft flown by
Operation Migration.

Operation Migration is a partner with the Whooping Crane Eastern
Partnership, and for 10 years has lead between seven and 20 cranes per
year on their first migration from Wisconsin to Florida to increase
whooping crane numbers to recover this magnificent endangered species.

The bird made its first migration to the Chassahowitzka National
Wildlife Refuge in Florida during the fall of 2004. It annually wintered
in Florida until 2009. Since then it has spent winters on the marshes
in and around Weiss Lake, Ala.

“We are extremely disappointed by the killing of this whooping crane,”
said Jim Gale, Special Agent in Charge of Law Enforcement in the
Service’s Southeast Region. “We recently lost three whooping cranes to
gunfire in south Georgia, now this one in Alabama. This senseless
killing has just got to stop.”

Gale has asked for the support of the public, especially the fishing,
hunting, and boating community who may have seen or heard about the
killing on Weiss Lake to help prosecute whoever shot this crane.

A $6,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to a
conviction. To provide information, call Special Agent John Rawls at
334-285-9600, or e-mail him at john_rawls@fws.gov.
Several organizations are contributing to the reward including Operation
Migration, which led this bird south with Ultralight aircraft on its
first migration in 2004, The Turner Foundation, the International Crane
Foundation, the Alabama Wildlife Federation, and the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service.

The Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership uses two techniques to establish
the Eastern Migratory Population. One method trains cranes to follow
costumed pilots flying ultralight aircraft from Wisconsin to Florida.
The other releases young birds directly into wild populations of
whooping cranes and sandhill cranes – called Direct Autumn Release.

Last spring, whooping crane 12-04 had paired with 27-05, the oldest
Direct Autumn Release bird. The new couple successfully mated and had a
late season nest with two eggs in Juneau County, Wis., south of Necedah
National Wildlife Refuge. One egg hatched and the pair raised the chick
for several weeks until it disappeared, presumably taken by a predator
-- possibly a bobcat or coyote.

Captive whooping cranes produce Direct Autumn Release cranes at the
International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wis. These eggs are hatched
there, then raised in isolation by costumed caretakers for the first six
weeks. Specialists then move them to an isolation facility in natural
habitat on Necedah National Wildlife Refuge where costumed caretakers
raise them. They are later released into the company of older whooping
cranes around Necedah National Wildlife Refuge for the fall migration in
November. They then follow those experienced whooping cranes and
sandhill cranes, learning the migration route to the wintering habitat.

It has taken five years for the birds in the Direct Autumn Release
program to learn to nest -- a milestone for the program that began in 2005.

The cranes are part of the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership effort to
reintroduce whooping cranes into the eastern United States. There are
about 570 whooping cranes left in the world, 400 in the wild. There are
about 100 cranes in the Eastern Migratory Population.

In addition to the Endangered Species Act, whooping cranes are protected
by state laws and the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

For more information about the reintroduction effort, visit
http://www.bringbackthecranes.org.

[bigwater]

I c...

I thought the dead giveaway on the sandhills was the unique call they make. Do whoop cranes make a similar call?

[Deltaduk]

I hope they catch the idiot that did that. He better be lucky I don't know him,I would be $6k richer.

[Wingman]

I c...

I thought the dead giveaway on the sandhills was the unique call they make. Do whoop cranes make a similar call?

I don't know.

[three11]

Food for thought...I am all for trying to save endangered species, and it makes me sick to see people kill animals "just for fun". But I also hate the way our government spends our tax dollars. I did a little research on The Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership. Almost half of its $1.6 Million annual budget comes from our tax dollars. This program has been in the works for approximately ten years. There are currently about 100 cranes in the program. That's $160,000 per crane($80,000 of our tax dollars).

[Wingman]

I guess the other alternative is spend nothing and watch another species go extinct.

I sure would like to see/hunt a passenger pigeon, or see a Carolina parakeet or ivory-billed woodpecker. Maybe see a red wolf or panther in its natural habitat, or bison herds of the pre-settler days.

[JaMak84]

Food for thought...I am all for trying to save endangered species, and it makes me sick to see people kill animals "just for fun". But I also hate the way our government spends our tax dollars. I did a little research on The Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership. Almost half of its $1.6 Million annual budget comes from our tax dollars. This program has been in the works for approximately ten years. There are currently about 100 cranes in the program. That's $160,000 per crane($80,000 of our tax dollars).

Got a source on how many tax dollars were spent destroying its habitat?

[three11]

I guess the other alternative is spend nothing and watch another species go extinct.

Who suggested that? The mentality that there are only two alternatives is part of the problem. Do you think that there could possibly be some middle ground here? Surely there is a way that we could help the whooping cranes without it costing the already burdened tax payers an arm and a leg.

[rewardband100]

i feel sorry for whoever shot it, he apparently didnt get to keep the bands....

[Wingman]

I guess the other alternative is spend nothing and watch another species go extinct.

Who suggested that? The mentality that there are only two alternatives is part of the problem. Do you think that there could possibly be some middle ground here? Surely there is a way that we could help the whooping cranes without it costing the already burdened tax payers an arm and a leg.

Since I don't know what is involved in the costs associated with one year of crane protection, I am not going to pretend to offer a cheaper solution.

[Don Miller]

I guess the other alternative is spend nothing and watch another species go extinct.

Who suggested that? The mentality that there are only two alternatives is part of the problem. Do you think that there could possibly be some middle ground here? Surely there is a way that we could help the whooping cranes without it costing the already burdened tax payers an arm and a leg.

Since I don't know what is involved in the costs associated with one year of crane protection, I am not going to pretend to offer a cheaper solution.

I say appropriate daybreak, of tamie mallard infamy, a couple of sacks of whooping crane food and let him be in charge of them.