[TN-Bird] Fw: Whooping Crane shot in Texas by "hunter"

The following e-mail was forwarded to me this morning and I thought that 
it might be of interest since the recent news of a Whooping Crane at 
Hiwassee in East TN.
Whooping Crane killed by Texas hunter Friday

An adult whooping crane was shot and killed late Friday, November 14th
south of Dallas, Texas.  A suspect has been apprehended and USFWS ? LE is
handling the case.    Below are a few details of the incident.

Late Friday afternoon, locals heard shots coming from Waxahachie Creek, a
part of Lake Bardwell near Ennis, Texas in Ellis County.   With waterfowl
season open the previous weekend, closed during the week and scheduled to
re-open Saturday, the local warden was called.  James Murphy, a Corps of
Engineers officer covering Waxahachie Creek Park responded and apprehended
the hunter with 3 ducks plus 1 whooping crane hidden in a bag.  The hunter
said he had shot a white crane.  Mr. Murphy notified TPWD and USFWS law
enforcement personnel.  On Saturday, USFWS Special Agent Steve Hamilton 
was
notified and is currently handling the case.  The suspect has not yet been
charged on the Federal level.  The incident is expected to be presented to
the U.S. Attorney in Dallas early this week.

Four whooping cranes had been present since Tuesday, spending the days
feeding in a nearby cornfield and presumably roosting at night on Lake
Bardwell.  One crane was shot about 15 minutes before sunset apparently as
it flew to roost.  The 3 remaining cranes are believed to have resumed
migration early Sunday afternoon.

Any shooting of a whooping crane is an unfortunate situation.  In this
case, the shooting was done by a hunter during a closed waterfowl season
and closed sandhill crane season, who also did not have the required
reservoir hunting permit from the Corps of Engineers.

A decision needs to be made Monday about issuing a press release from 
USFWS
- Region II.  The local newspaper in Ennis, Texas knows about the 
incident,
but I know of no other press inquiries so far.

Tom Stehn
USFWS
Whooping Crane Coordinator


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