Friday, April 22, 2005

Endangered Whooping Cranes

...Now I'm not much for charities and causes but, this one "Screamed" at me for some reason.
I learned about these magnificent birds from an "Orvis" catalog that I received and decided
to make it a cause of mine and maybe a few of you can help too.

First of all...these Endangered Whooping Cranes were on the verge of extinction and by
1944 there were only twenty-one birds left. These elegant birds stand nearly five feet tall
and have a wingspan of eight feet. They hatch the eggs in Wisconsin, and when they are
old enough to migrate for the first time, an Ultralight shows them the way to Florida.
Of the 53 cranes that have already made the southward trip from 2001 to 2004, forty-five (45) remain. They range in age from 4 years to less than 1 year and continue to act as wild Whooping cranes.


International Crane Foundation

Orvis, the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, and the Wolf Creek Charitable Foundation will match contributions made to the project dollar-for-dollar. This makes your $100 contribution a $400 contribution to the 2005 Whooping Crane Migration project. Please send a tax-deductible contribution to:
ICF Whooping Crane Migration Project

Orvis Dept. IN
PO Box 798
Manchester, VT 05254

1 comment:

Bobbi said...

One year, when I lived in Indiana, I remember a reporter for the newspaper following the migration of the whooping crane. That year, I remember they had some close calls, but finally made it safely to FL. One adult was attacked and killed by something in FL (a coyote, maybe? - do they have coyotes that far south?). Everyone involved with the project was crushed. But, fortunately, all others survived and made the flight north that spring, so it was a success overall.