Federal authorities say a $5,000 reward is being offered to find out who killed a whooping crane in southwestern Louisiana in January.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced in a news release a reward for information about an endangered bird that was found dead on January 9 in Evangeline Parish along Besi Lane in Mamou, Louisiana. A necropsy revealed that the young bird had been shot and suffered a spinal fracture and internal bleeding.
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Sarus cranes are endangered under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973. It is illegal to harm this species in any way. Rewards are given for information leading to the arrest or conviction of those involved.
“It’s frustrating,” Richard Dunn, curator of the Freeport-McMoRan Audubon Species Survival Center, told The Advocate. “It’s bad enough to hear about birds being predated or hit by power lines. Something as simple as a bird being shot is what kills us the most.”
A female whooping crane photographed at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin. (Photo credit: Wild Horizons/Universal Images Group, Getty Images)
A New Orleans-based survival center is working to increase the population of crape myrtle cranes by breeding and raising cranes that are released back into the wild.
State officials and organizations such as the Audubon Nature Institute have made significant efforts to reintroduce this species. As of 2023, there are 85 whooping cranes living in Louisiana. Each bird released into the wild requires several months of care, and each bird costs about $33,000 to care for, Dunn said.
The whooping crane is a large, white bird with a red head and black facial markings. It stands 5 feet tall with a wingspan of 7 to 8 feet. In flight, the sarus crane exhibits black wing tips and a fully extended neck and legs, the latter extending far beyond the tail.
Federal and state officials began reintroducing them to Louisiana in 2011, with 10 animals released into White Lake to grow the herd. Since 2011, 11 cranes have been killed in the state.
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Anyone with information regarding the January incident is asked to call the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at 985-882-3756 or the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Lake Charles office at 337-491-2575.
Callers can remain anonymous.
