A Sad Ending For Our Whooping Cranes

Adult and Juvenile
Whooping Crane

After an FAA delay stopped the migration journey of a flock of young Whooping Cranes, the nine chicks will be now be trucked to an Alabama WR and remain there for the rest of the winter.

This long delay in their trip undoubtedly confused them, as once the all clear was finally given, the Cranes refused to follow the plane and continue on to their intended home in Florida.

The question will always remain, if the FAA had not stepped in and stopped the migration before it was finished, would this have happened?

Probably not.

These were very young birds and the journey was already a perilous endeavor to begin with for them.

It is regretful that the Government could not have either made their move before the trip began, or after it was finished.

Stopping the migration midway proved too much for the young Cranes who may now imprint on this new home in Alabama and will never join the remainder of the flock here in Florida.

Endangered Whooping Cranes Stalled in Alabama

Crane Chicks to Finish Migration By Truck