10,000 Birds

JANUARY 15, 2014

Fish and Wildlife Service has announced the death of two Whooping Cranes in Hopkins County, Kentucky. Making bad news worse, officials speculate that the Whooping Cranes likely weren’t killed by hunters, but instead by thrill-seekers. What thrill there is in murdering an endangered species, I’ll never know.).

Kentucky 228

Kentucky Killing Endangered Species United States 228

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 8, 2014

(The pair shot last year in Kentucky belonged to Operation Migration’s project establishing a migratory flock in the eastern United States; there is also the last true wild flock , which winters in Texas and summers in Canada.) Seriously, hunters. (Or, Please get our endangered species out of your sights, and shoot something else.

Louisiana 261

Louisiana Kentucky Hunters United States 261

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2011

Bald Eagle image is by Francois Portmann and is used with permission You know, I’ve been thinking about this whole dustup over hunting cranes in Tennessee and now Kentucky. There was a lot of hunting for Bald Eagles—it is traditionally a game species. Bald Eagles will provide a sporting challenge for hunters.

Bald Eagle 256

Bald Eagle Eagles Hunting Kentucky 256

10,000 Birds

MARCH 20, 2011

So, one might surmise, it’s OK if they get shot by hunters thinking they’re sandhill cranes? What could motivate gunmen (I cannot call them hunters) in two states to deliberately kill North America’s tallest and most critically endangered bird? It may be as sick as deliberately targeting an endangered species for death.

2011 242

2011 Hunting Kentucky Hunters 242