The Whooping Crane: The Bird that Defies Extinction

Winner of the Dutton Animal Book Award. Very Good Hardcover in dust jacket. Introduction by Stewart L. Udall, former Secretary of the Interior. Illustrated with 19 photos, drawings and maps.

This book is a story of a love affair - between a civilized sophisticated nation and an enormous, elusive bird. We, the people who slaughtered the bison and exterminated the passenger pigeon, have had a shift of conscience in the last 50 years and have made the preservation of rare species of wildlife one of our national conservation purposes. This book tells of the steadfast devotion and dedication to a bird; of many persons, particularly Robert P. Allen of the National Audubon Society; of human mistakes, of miscalculations, greed, neglect, skill; of the monumental effort of men and agencies, both private and governmental, to locate the nesting grounds in the Canadian far north, and to provide a safe sanctuary for the cranes on their wintering grounds which are 2,500 miles apart. It tells the tender care of the young cranes by the parents, the ordeal of migration, the ordeal of trying to protect its habitat from man's technological means of advancement. It bugles the vital necessity of gathering scientific data on a wild creature and of carefully analyzing that data for facts and clues to be used in future management and preservation efforts.