Wildlife officials to review policies after whooping crane deaths
(AP) - Wildlife officials say they'll take another look at their policies in Florida following the deaths of 17 whooping cranes there last week.
The cranes died when violent storms hit their pen in a marsh at a national wildlife refuge near Tampa.
Officials first thought all 18 young cranes that followed ultralight aircraft from Wisconsin had died, but one of the birds was found alive a few miles away.
John Christian of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it isn't clear what killed the 17 birds, but examination of crane carcasses may provide answers within a day or two.
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Christian says officials will look to see if there is some way to modify procedures to make sure such deaths of the whooping cranes don't happen again.
The birds were led south in December by ultralight aircraft as part of a project to create a second migratory flock.
The whooping crane, the tallest bird in North America, was near extinction in 1941, with only about 20 left.
The other wild whooping crane flock in North America has about 200 birds and migrates from Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast. A non-migratory flock in Florida has about 60 birds.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)