Disaster for Whooping cranes as 17 chicks killed in a storm

16/11/2007 00:00:00 17 out of 18 juvenile whooping cranes at the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge have died in a major storm in Florida.

The whooping cranes comprised the ultralight-led ‘Class of 2006’ and arrived at the Chassahowitzka NWR in mid January. Following standard protocol, WCEP personnel checked on the cranes the evening of February 1. Due to the magnitude of the storm and the location of the pen site, personnel were unable to safely check on the cranes until the afternoon of February 2nd, at which time the birds were discovered dead in their enclosure. It was originally thought that all 18 of the birds had been killed; however one individual survivor has since been found. Project biologists with the International Crane Foundation picked up the radio signal of crane 15-06 on Saturday afternoon near the pen site at the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge.

They tracked the young bird to an area in Citrus County, some miles away from the pen site. The juvenile crane was observed from the air in good remote habitat with two sandhill cranes.

‘Finding 15-06 alive represents a ray of light during an otherwise dark time for whooping crane recovery,’ said John Christian, co-chair of the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership. ’While we are still recovering from the initial shock of the loss of so many other young birds, this latest development demonstrates the resilience of this particular crane, and our partnership will bounce back as well.’