Captive Whooping Cranes to Be Split Into Two Flocks

Federal officials and wildlife experts announced plans Wednesday to split the world’s only captive flock of endangered whooping cranes to diminish the possibility of losing all 54 birds to a single epidemic or disaster.

“It’s just putting your eggs in two baskets instead of one,” said David Thompson, an education specialist with the International Crane Foundation, a private, nonprofit organization specializing in the breeding of cranes. “We’re talking about a whole species here.”

22 Birds to Be Moved

In November, 22 of the 54 birds will be moved from the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Md., to a breeding center at the International Crane Foundation’s headquarters in Baraboo, Wis.

There are about 200 whooping cranes in existence, with the only self-sustaining wild flock consisting of about 140 birds that migrate between Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada and Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas.

Splitting the captive flock will also speed plans for a second self-sustaining wild flock of the regal white birds, which can stand 5 feet tall and have 5-foot wings with black tips, Thompson said.

An attempt to establish a wild flock in the Grays Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Idaho was made in 1975, but the birds have not produced eggs. That refuge is still home to 13 whooping cranes.

10% of Wild Flock Lost

The sole self-sustaining wild flock lost about 10% of its population last winter during its migration south, Thompson said.

John Turner, director of the Interior Department’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, called the split of the captive flock a “win-win situation for America’s premier endangered species.”

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation is providing a grant of $200,000 for the construction of 12 to 15 pens to house the whooping crane flock at the Baraboo facility.