Great news for the bird watchers! 237 whooping cranes have already made their yearly migration, returning to Texas’ Aransas National Wildlife refugee. These numbers along with the number of currently captive birds brings their total population to a record 518!
The state have witnesses this figure for the first time in 100 years, with their population totaling to more than 500, as reported by The Washington Post.
70 years ago, these birds were numbered just 20! It was then this whooping crane — North America’s tallest bird — was on the brink of extinction. Tom Stehn, the national whooping crane coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service siad,
The whooping crane continues to mirror the success of endangered species recovery when man sets his mind to it.
True, the U.S. wildlife officials are happy with the comeback of the birds’ new population, but, what is needed now is an initiative to make a good conservation effort to save the species.