For immediate release
Contact: Gina Stiles, 904-757-4463, ext. 210; cell phone 655-3632

  Endangered Whooping Cranes Now at Home

 at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens

                       
November 2, 2006 – Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens announced that on October 7, 2006, the Zoo acquired  two, four-month-old whooping cranes, a male and a female, from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) with authorization by the International Whooping Crane Recovery Team.  Whooping cranes are listed by federal and state agencies as an endangered species. In 1944, the total whooping crane population numbered only 21. The two young cranes at Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens are included in the total population of 497 whooping cranes world wide.

The newly acquired cranes were hatched from the captive breeding flock at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin.  As young chicks, they were transferred to an isolation rearing facility at the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, also in Wisconsin, to be released into the wild as part of the Direct Autumn Release program. Recently, they were withdrawn from the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership’s Direct Autumn Release program because they developed leg issues that would affect their ability to breed in the wild. The young cranes are currently quarantined until they can become acclimated to their new environment.  They will be located in the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens’ Wild Florida exhibit, along with many other endangered species native to Florida. Exhibiting these species helps the Zoo to educate the public on the conservation efforts to recover our endangered and threatened wildlife populations.

"We are really appreciative of the folks at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens immediately stepping forward and offering to provide a home for these two whooping cranes, the tallest bird in North America", said Tom Stehn, Whooping Crane Coordinator for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "They have  to move some birds around and make modifications to the pen to get it ready for the whooping cranes within a very limited time frame, and I thank them for their hard work and all their efforts to support whooping crane recovery."

The Jacksonville Zoo’s bird staff has participated in helping the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP) for the past two years.  In February of this year, they received a certificate of thanks from the WCEP for their involvement in the building of a whooping crane holding pen and winter release site in the Halpata Tastanaki Preserve in Marion County, Florida,.  The pen was completed in early December 2005 and used during last winter’s release of 20 young whooping cranes.  The Eastern North American migratory flock now has approximately 60 cranes routinely migrating to and from Wisconsin and Florida each year on their own.  Information on the WCEP project and its many partners is available online at www.bringbackthecranes.org or www.operationmigration.org.

“We are proud to have two of the world’s rarest birds at our Zoo.  This will give us another opportunity to contribute to the conservation efforts for the whooping cranes by educating our visitors about them and encouraging support of organizations that help protect them,” remarked Dennis Pate, executive director of the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens.