Whooping crane efforts resume after COVID cutbacks

Efforts to restore endangered whooping cranes (Grus americana) to the wild have resumed after COVID-19 precautions brought the program nearly to a halt. Fourteen crane chicks are being raised in facilities from New Orleans to Calgary, Alberta, the Associated Press reports. Zoos and other facilities reduced staff and artificial insemination efforts last year to reduce risks from the pandemic.

“We are thrilled to have bounced back in the wake of the pandemic,” Richard Dunn, assistant curator of the Freeport-McMoRan Audubon Species Survival Center in New Orleans, told the AP.