Fla. storms killed all 18 whooping cranes led south by ultralight

Jacksonville.com ^ | 2-3-07 | JAMES A. CARLSON

[SJackson]

MILWAUKEE - All 18 young whooping cranes led south from Wisconsin by ultralight aircraft last fall were killed in storms that hit Florida, dealing a devastating blow to a project to create a second migratory flock of the endangered birds in North American, a spokesman said.

The cranes were being kept in an enclosure at the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge near Crystal River, Fla., when the storms moved in and intensified Thursday night, said Joe Duff, senior pilot and co-founder of Operation Migration, a nonprofit organization coordinating the project.

"The birds were checked in late afternoon the day before, and they were fine," Duff said.

But the area of the enclosure was unreachable by workers at night, and all the birds were found dead Friday, he said.

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on or off this outdoors list, largely rural midwestern issues, please FR mail me. And ping me is you see articles of interest.

Not the end of the story, but certainly a setback.

Whooping crane pairs nesting at refuge-Whooping cranes return to Wisconsin

 

Biologists Say Signs Point to Crane Chick

 

New Whooping Crane Flock on Way to FL. Following Ultralite

 

Cranes near final destination [Whoopers to Florida for the winter]

Cranes are on the move

 

[proudofthesouth]

This is sad.

[A Cyrenian]

I guess God didn't want Wisconsin whoopping cranes in Florida.

Try as you might, there's only One that knows best.

[livius]

Sorry to hear this. I'm not sure I entirely understand the why of the project, but somebody is making a valiant effort, and this is a terrible thing to happen.

[xcamel]

Same machine I used to fly - Cosmos 532-ES

[Fawn]

So trajic.....many many birds were lost from all the hurricanes too.......Florida lost almost a 1/3 of all trees.

[cripplecreek]

Well that sucks.

[diggerwillow]

This is really going to tick off the "storms are more intense because of global warming" crowd. Mobile homes and humans are one thing but when whooping cranes are killed it's a whole new ball game.

[UB355]

The program has been going on for years

[SwatTeam]

It is very sad but if a species cannot adapt and reproduce and thrive on its own it is destined to die. That is the law of survival and Mother Nature Rules. The scientific community has been mollycoddling this species since I was a child(and I am 65) and there are still less than 300 of them. There is a refuge on the coast here in Texas and they are beautiful birds.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

If God didn't want them in Florida, they would never have migrated South. Kinda like saying that God didn't want Canadian geese in Louisiana.

[Eclectica]

The Whoopers probably knew, like all birds know, that the weather was increasingly and threateningly bad.

Kept in an enclosure, nobody read their behavior correctly and they perished: released, perhaps most would have survived. Sad.

[Publius6961]

Is this an example of life imitating art? Or was the movie, Fly Away Home made and released after this program began?

[Mears]

Aw gee,I remember seeing something about these cranes on TV a few years back.

Sad !

[Paleo Conservative]

I live just about 45 miles from the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge where the Whooping Cranes winter in Texas. I'm sure I'll get lots of coverage of the destruction of the Florida flock in my local fishwrap.

[SJackson]

I guess God didn't want Wisconsin whoopping cranes in Florida....Try as you might, there's only One that knows best.

True, but these aren't the only surviving whoopers, the effort will go on.

[SJackson]

Do you dress up as a crane? :>)

[xcamel]

no, never took it **that far**

[Issaquahking]

No matter how sophisticated we get, we fail to be able to read the natural reactions of wild life in mother nature.

In Alaska, the day before the 64 earthquake, the horses and cows were trying to tear down the fences to get to high ground. No one knew what was wrong with them.

The cranes probably knew, by nature, what the right thing for them to do would have been, and probably still been alive.

Sad day for Whooping Cranes.