WHOOPER DEATH MYSTERY RESOLVED! An anonymous report was recently sent to Friends of the Wild Whoopers (FOTWW) about a whooping crane death in April 2013 at Collins Slough in Hand County, South Dakota. The citizen who sent the report believed the whooper had been shot. Enclosed with the citizen report was an official “Diagnostic Services Case Report” prepared on May 2, 2013 by the U.S.G.S. National Wildlife Health Center, Madison, Wisconsin. This official report explains that: “This whooping crane (#12-000144) was submitted as a legal case to USFWS Forensics Lab (Ashland, OR). The case was given a final diagnosis of gunshot and was declassified.” But, take a deep breath and let’s examine the information FOTWW received very carefully. There is a serious glitch with the information. While it appears that only one whooping crane was involved, the information we received actually involves two different whoopers. The whooper found dead at Collins Slough in April 2013 died of natural causes according to state and federal wildlife law enforcement officers. Federal and state officials associated with the April 2013 case were contacted by FOTWW to get more information. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Law Enforcement officer and South Dakota’s Conservation Officer Cory Flor, Hand County coordinated to locate the dead whooping crane. Conservation Officer Cory Flor advised that he was contacted by the National Wildlife Health Center in Wisconsin to assist in locating a missing crane in April 2013. The crane was tagged with a wildlife tracking global positioning systems (GPS) devise and its movements were being followed by U.S. Fish and Service wildlife biologists. The GPS signal indicated that the whooping crane had not moved in three days and it could be sick or dead. Officer Flor was given map coordinates to aid in locating the crane. Officer Flor traveled through extreme weather and snow but located the whooper. Flor and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officer conducted an examination of the bird and observed no evidence of gun shot. And here is what caused confusion in some minds. During this same time period (5/2/2013) the U.S.G.S. National Wildlife Health Center, Madison, Wisconsin released its Final Report from its Forensics Lab of an entirely different whooping crane killed in April 2012 by Jeff Blachford, Miller, SD. So, this second whooping crane (band #12-000144) was given a final diagnosis of gunshot and was declassified by the USFWS Forensics Lab (Ashland, OR). Because there had been no news reports about the whooping crane death in April 2013, the citizen reporter became suspicious and contacted FOTWW. So now you the rest of the story.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 00:23:28 +0000
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