Calling All Crane Defenders!
Stop Arizona’s Sandhill Crane Hunt
Earth First! is once again asking community members to help patrol this November’s sandhill crane hunt, south of Willcox, to document and report hunting violations. Last year we were able to draw media attention to the hunt while also saving countless cranes from the hunters’ guns. This year’s hunt goes from November 1-15.
Facts About the Hunt
-Since 1981, the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AGFD) has approved a sport hunt for sandhill cranes — a species that is still recovering from being almost wiped out by hunters and habitat destruction in the first half of the 20th century. In 2005, the hunt will be the largest ever, with permits to kill 730 birds offered at a cost of $15 per hunter.
-The 2003-4 total estimated North American “sport harvest” of sandhill cranes, including crippling losses, was 35,706, the second highest kill ever reported.
-AGFD states that the Rocky Mountain Population of greater sandhill cranes “is relatively small and can tolerate only a light harvest,” yet allowed 43 to be killed in 2004 and will allow up to 59 to be killed in 2005.
-Sandhill cranes wintering in the “refuge” of Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area are shot and killed as they fly from the refuge during AGFD’s sponsored hunt in November.
Stop the Crane Hunt!
For more information, contact Chuk’shon Earth First!, sabthebastards (at) hotmail.com. Meetings are held every Tuesday at 6pm in the Dunbar Spring Community Garden (at the corner of University Blvd. and 11th Ave, in Tucson).
