[TN-Bird] Another Dead Whooping Crane
- From: Marcia Davis <tennwren@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 09 Feb 2011 16:42:30 -0500
Press release from US Fish and Wildlife Service
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 9, 2011
Media contacts: Tom MacKenzie 404-679-7291 tom_mackenzie@xxxxxxx
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@xxxxxxxx
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.
-
posted by
Marcia Davis
Knoxville, Tennessee
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