THE WHOOPING CRANE

by Faith McNulty ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 29, 1966

The extinction of something that will never, in all eternity, be duplicated, is an occurrence that seems to break a strand of time itself,"" says Faith McNulty, in her account of the thirty year struggle to save the last whooping cranes on earth. For a nature lover, it has all the excitement of a spectacular thriller although her style is not quite airborne. The cranes winter at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge on the Gulf Coast of Texas some seventy-five miles north of Corpus Christi; they migrate some 2500 miles north to nest in the Northwest Territories within 500 miles of the Arctic Circle. In 1938, fourteen birds were counted at Aransas; in 1965, forty-four. The struggle to keep the cranes extant has been made by the Bureau of Sportfisheries and Wildlife, by the National Audubon Society and assorted aviculturists. Obstacles have included intercoastal waterways, oil drilling, bombing nearby and shooting off limits at Aransas, shooting and wet weather while in passage, not to mention differences of opinion as to whether the birds will propagate better wild or captive. Today the Audubon (for the wild) and the aviculture (for the captive) proponents are reasonably assured by the government's program to maintain the species in both states. A unique chapter in our national history.

Pub Date: Aug. 29, 1966

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1966

Categories: NONFICTION