(Reprinted with permission of the author. The full article has been shortened. Contact the author for the full text.)
Painting and text by Barry Kent MacKay
Years ago, I had the wondrous privilege of standing face to face with these magnificent birds inside one of the large enclosures away from public view at the International Crane Foundation, at Baraboo, Wisconsin. The Foundation is part of a massive, binational network of various government and non-government agencies and organizations that have, by dint of enormous effort over more than 80 years, and at great cost, prevented this species from going extinct. It is still endangered, and still in perilous need of help from humans.
The International Crane Foundation estimates that nearly 20 percent of Whooping Crane deaths among the birds re-introduced in the eastern migratory population are from shooting. High tension wires and storms, droughts, and other extreme weather events that are resulting from climate change or other hazards take their toll.
My personal view is that there is great need to focus on protecting all wildlife, including the most common, to prevent them from becoming endangered in the
first place.
This is an oil painting on compressed hardboard and is approximately 30 by 24 inches.
Barry Kent MacKay
Bird Artist, Illustrator
Studio: (905) 472 9731
mimus@sympatico.ca