Changes to the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership: Your Questions Answered
https://www.savingcranes.org/changes-to-the-whooping-crane-eastern-partnership-your-questions-answered/
Thanks for posting this recently published article,
T40. I have been following the decisions leading up to and including the January 2016 statements about the changes planned for how the WCEP will operate going forward. There has been quite a lot explained about why changes will be made to lead to Whooping Crane chicks being raised using less human intervention - such as the chicks spending more time being reared by adult Whoopers, and less interaction with humans costumed like Whoopers (tumes) - and that article speaks specifically of the changes for the WCEP's Whooper chicks being raised by spending large amounts of time with captive adult Whoopers. But I have not seen them answer questions about how they plan for those WCEP chicks to learn to migrate if they are not going to be led on their first migration by manned ultralight - since the captive adult Whoopers who would be raising those chicks do not migrate, of course. I wonder if they plan to crate those chicks raised by captive adult Whoopers to the southern fall migration over-wintering pen locations in hopes they will follow the wild adult Whoopers who visit there on their spring migration back to northern nesting grounds? So, it seems they are answering questions about changes being made to help increase the success of wild Whoopers successfully fledging their hatchling chicks. But there are still a lot of questions about their plans - and for me, that is mostly about how they plan for those WCEP captive-reared chicks to learn to migrate? I sure hope they aren't planning on another non-migratory population being "built." Also, near the end of that article, they speak of "addressing shootings" ... I believe instead they should've said "publicly advertising that they will be criminally prosecuting shooters, resulting in active jail sentences, permanent lifetime loss of hunting privileges, and stiff fines for those found guilty."