Baraboo, WI – For more than 40 years, many organizations and agencies have been working to bring back the Whooping Crane. Today, their majestic presence and unique haunting call are slowly re-emerging on the landscape – including eastern Kentucky.
The survival of Whooping Cranes depends on the actions of people – people protecting the ecosystems where Whooping Cranes live and people living in harmony with the birds. Over the past five years, thirteen Whooping Crane shootings were documented. Shootings currently account for 19% of known adult mortality in the reintroduced population of Whooping Cranes in the eastern United States. A few of the cranes were killed because they were mistaken for legally-hunted species. But most appear to have been killed in acts of vandalism. Whooping Cranes in the wild still number less than 500 and the population grows slowly. Therefore, any mortalities, particularly of adult breeding birds, can pose a significant threat to the long-term survival of the species.
One of the primary research goals of our Texas Program is protecting coastal habitat for wintering Whooping Cranes, which includes the productive salt marshes and tidal flats that fringe the shorelines of the central Texas coast. Protecting these coastal habitats is critical for the species, but cranes, like people, need freshwater to survive. How do we address this need for freshwater as salinities in the bays increase from growing upstream water use and drought?
International Crane Foundation Aviculturist, Allyce Vogel, Belmont, and Dr. Hartup following Belmont’s ultrasound exam.
On a warm fall morning late last month we safely transported one of our Hooded Cranes, “Belmont,” one-hour south to the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine. In early November, 18 year-old Belmont began exhibiting significant right leg lameness and knuckling of her foot, or walking on the tops of her toes, and we needed additional insight into why this was happening. The International Crane Foundation has had a Memorandum of Understanding with the School of Veterinary Medicine for 24/7 veterinary services since 2000. Most of this agreement is fulfilled by my position at the International Crane Foundation, but it also includes preferred access to the Special Species Service and other specialties at the University when needed.
Finally, the Stories of our Co-founder George Archibald in Print!
During the past three decades, Terry and Mary Kohler have been lead supporters of the International Crane Foundation. On September 20, 2016, Terry peacefully passed away at their home in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. He was a pillar in conservation.
