11-7-2008
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) will discontinue the release of whooping cranes into Florida's non-migratory flock. The FWC accepted the recent recommendation from the multi-agency International Whooping Crane Recovery Team.
The team created the release program 15 years ago in an effort to establish a self-sustaining, non-migratory whooping crane population in Florida. Naturally-occurring whooping crane populations in the southeastern United States disappeared by the 1930s.
Scientists decided to stop releasing cranes into the non-migratory flock for a variety of reasons, including problems with survival and reproduction, both of which have been complicated by drought. Additional considerations included shorter-than-expected life spans, scarcity of birds for release, project costs and the loss of habitat from development. The team felt that project resources and birds produced in captivity could be better used for other whooping crane releases as well as to maintain the captive flock.
“It was a tough decision,” said FWC biologist Marty Folk. “Many people were involved, but most agreed that this was the right decision and the right time to make it.”
From 1993 to 2004, biologists released 289 captive-raised, non-migratory whooping cranes into Osceola, Lake and Polk counties in Central Florida. The last releases took place in winter of 2004-2005. FWC biologists will continue to study the remaining 31 birds.
The FWC was the lead agency in Florida in the cooperative effort to establish a non-migratory flock. Major partners included the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, the Canadian Wildlife Service and the International Crane Foundation.
As a member of the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership, the FWC continues its involvement with a separate project to reintroduce migratory whooping cranes in the eastern United States. This flock migrates from Wisconsin to Florida each year. In the coming year, biologists will release 20 additional whooping cranes into the current flock of 68 birds.
To learn more about whooping crane research programs, visit http://research.MyFWC.com.