REGINA — Nature Saskatchewan is publicly expressing distaste with the perpetrators responsible for shooting four endangered whooping cranes in Oklahoma last month, according to a statement issued this week.
“Conservationists throughout North America are dismayed and angry to learn that four endangered Whooping Cranes were recently shot and left to waste in Oklahoma,” said the statement.
The four endangered birds were discovered earlier in December, after locals came across an injured whooping crane and reported it to Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.
The injured animal received veterinary attention but later died, and a search of the area led to the discovery of three other deceased birds.
Initial investigation of the deceased birds revealed shotgun wounds, indicating the individual or group responsible would have been in close range and presumably could have identified the birds.
Experts believe the birds would have passed through Saskatchewan several weeks prior to arriving in Oklahoma, on their migratory path to wintering ground at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge on the Texas Gulf Coast.
Whooping cranes are North America’s best-known endangered species, said Nature Sask. The cranes were declared so in 1941, when six of the remaining 21 birds were lost to a hurricane in Louisiana and the 15 remaining birds migrated to nesting grounds in Wood Buffalo National Park, in the Northwest Territories.
Conservation efforts have since boosted the whooping crane population to total approximately 800 birds in the world, 150 of which currently reside in captivity.
“Fortunately, the general public and responsible hunters along the migratory route treasure and protect North America's tallest birds,” said Nature Sask.
Oklahoma game wardens are still investigating the incident, according to local reports, and are unable to say whether the birds were shot intentionally or mistaken for sandhill cranes, which are legal to hunt in the state.
In the United States, killing a whooping crane can result in a $100,000 and up to one year in prison under the Endangered Species Act, as well as an additional $15,000 fine with up to six months in jail under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
