Rare Whooping Cranes Will Be Reintroduced in Louisiana

U.S. wildlife biologists are reintroducing 10 whooping cranes — the most endangered species of crane in the world — to Louisiana. Whooping cranes, found only in North America, once numbered more than 15,000 individuals, but hunting and development drove the population down to just 15 birds in the 1940s. The birds were wiped out in Louisiana. But efforts by the federal government and several states have built up populations to about 560 cranes, and the reintroduction of the birds in Louisiana is part of an effort to restore them to their original habitats. Ten cranes will be transferred soon from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland to enclosures in Louisiana’s White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area. The birds will be fed and protected in the enclosed area, with the goal of eventually releasing them into the wild. Another set of cranes will be reintroduced in Louisiana in October.