Whooping crane  (Grus americana)

The original decline in whooping crane numbers followed the drainage and clearing of wetlands, together with other human disturbances in the breeding areas and migration routes (10). Shooting for food by early settlers and specimen collection for museums and egg collectors wreaked havoc on the remaining population. Today, cranes remain at risk from human development (10); collisions with power-lines are now a serious cause of mortality (6). Moreover, the single population is at risk from any chance event and conservationists are particularly fearful of a chemical spill in the Gulf of Mexico that would destroy the wintering grounds in Texas (6).

The whooping crane has been the subject of an enormous, broad-based conservation effort since the mid-20th Century, involving the United States and Canadian Wildlife Services, together with other organizations such as the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center and the International Crane Foundation (7). The multi-faceted approach has involved the protection of important habitats, the monitoring of populations and a captive breeding program. The establishment of an additional migratory population was attempted in Idaho but has not proven successful (10). However, greater progress has been achieved with the setting up of a non-migratory population in Florida, which now numbers 86 individuals (11). Another attempt at establishing a migratory population was begun in 2001, with birds being taught a migration route from Wisconsin to Florida behind ultra-light aircraft (9). The main captive populations exist at Patuxent Wildlife Research Centre, the International Crane Foundation and Calgary Zoo and have been used in these reintroduction attempts (10). These efforts have increased the wild population of these elegant birds from just 21 in the 1940s to about 300 today, a truly fantastic achievement (11).