The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries along with other organizations are offering a reward of $12,500 to anyone who can help them with information to find and convict the person responsible for killing an endangered Whooping Crane earlier this year. LDWF District 5-A Supervisor, Lt. Wendell Vaughn.
“We know that a Whooping Crane was shot out of a rice field in Evangeline Parish, around the town of Mamou,” Vaughn said.
Whooping Cranes had not been seen in Louisiana since 1950 until an effort to reintroduce them began in 2011. Repopulating the Bayou State is a difficult task, and Vaughn says LDWF and their partners want to know who is responsible for killing this rare juvenile bird.
“This particular bird wasn’t out in the wild but a few months. I think it was released back in November of 2023 and then in January of 2024, somebody shot it,” Vaughn said.
Vaughn says the birds are very rare. The Louisiana flock of Whooping Cranes is estimated to number around 80 and is protected under state law.
“It is the most endangered Crane in the world. There are numerous hours, as well as a lot of money, put into these birds,” Vaughn said.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the USFWS at 985-882-3756 or LDWF Lake Charles Office at 337-491-2588.
Comments