- Dallas Zoo offers reward for leads on dead whooping crane
- Chick found with fatal gunshot wounds in Louisiana
- READ MORE: Whooping cranes ‘could be wiped out’ by disease outbreak
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Authorities are searching for the killer of an endangered chick found dead in Louisiana.
The Dallas Zoo, where the chick was born, announced the death last week, saying the bird was found with gunshot wounds two months after being released into the wild – part of a conservation program aimed at to increase the declining population.
Zoo and wildlife officials are offering a $12,500 reward for information leading to an arrest or indictment.
Whooping crane chickens are protected under the Endangered Species Act and people who harm the creature face up to a year in prison and a $50,000 fine.
Authorities are searching for the killer of an endangered whooping crane chick found dead in Louisiana.
“It is with heavy hearts that we announce that our whooping crane chick, released into the wild in November 2023, was found dead with a fatal gunshot wound on January 9 near Mamou, Louisiana,” shared the Dallas Zoo in a post on X.
“If you have any information relevant to this case, please contact the USFWS at 985-882-3756 or the LDWF Lake Charles office at 337-491-2588.”
The chick was found dead in a farm pond on the south side of Besi Lane.
An autopsy revealed that the crane had been shot, resulting in a fractured spine and internal bleeding.
The whooping crane was released by the zoo into the wild in western Louisiana, which the team celebrated at the time as a conservation victory.
Staff said the team has been working on the project for five years, starting with breeding adult whooping cranes to hatch viable eggs.
The zoo received a whooping crane egg, then placed it under their incubating pair and the couple raised the chick as their own. In the photo, the chick with one of its adoptive parents
The Dallas Zoo released the chick (pictured) into the wild last November, two months before it was found dead in Louisiana.
The egg arrived at the Dallas Zoo through the International Crane Foundation, which staff then placed under their incubation pair and the couple raised the chick as their own.
The crane was brought in with three other cranes from the Audubon Institute to acclimate the birds before heading out into the wild.
“With this release, the whooping crane population in Louisiana now stands at 85 cranes,” the Dallas Zoo said in a statement released in November.
“We are very proud to be part of the ongoing efforts to save this iconic species from extinction.”
The Dallas-raised chick was found dead Jan. 9 in Mamou, sparking an investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF).
The reward for information about the dead chick includes the USFWS offering up to $5,000, the LDWF up to $2,500, the International Crane Foundation up to $2,500 and the Dallas Zoo up to $2 $500.
The whooping crane grows up to five feet tall, making it the largest bird in North America, and is notable for its unusual “whooping” sound.
There are fewer than 600 in North America.
By the 1940s, only 21 whooping cranes remained in the wild due to overhunting and habitat loss, sparking conservation programs that boosted the population.