Feds approve plan to hunt sandhill cranes in Ky.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky has gotten approval from the federal government to allow the hunting of sandhill cranes.That means the state can go forward with its plan to hold the first authorized hunt of the birds in about 100 years.
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Services officials told The Courier-Journal that the approval this week from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency means officials could open the hunt as early as Dec. 17 (http://bit.ly/qbSoWD).
Sandhill cranes haven't been hunted in Kentucky and most of the Midwest and the Eastern Seaboard since the early 1900s. Their numbers had dwindled because of overhunting, but they have rebounded since then thanks to conservation efforts. State officials say the regulations still need to go through a General Assembly review process, but that could be done in the fall.
Thousands of the big birds — which stand 5 feet tall and have a 6-foot wingspan — gather each winter in the Barren River Lake Wildlife Management Area. Hunters have argued for the right to harvest the birds, while others have questioned projections for the cranes' population trends and expressed worries that endangered whooping cranes could be shot by mistake.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Alicia King said federal authorities added some safeguards in an effort to prevent the latter. Hunters will be required to pass an online bird identification course, and the state must hold its sandhill crane season before most whooping cranes arrive, King said.
The hunt would run for 30 days and allow no more than 400 of the birds to be killed. Opponents, however, say they will continue to fight the move. More than a dozen conservation groups, including the Coalition for Sandhill Cranes, have asked Gov. Steve Beshear to stop the hunt. So far, he has declined.
Kentucky Resources Council Director Tom FitzGerald said the groups are considering their options, including the possibility of a lawsuit. "It's certainly not the end of the road," he said.
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Services officials told The Courier-Journal that the approval this week from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency means officials could open the hunt as early as Dec. 17 (http://bit.ly/qbSoWD).
Sandhill cranes haven't been hunted in Kentucky and most of the Midwest and the Eastern Seaboard since the early 1900s. Their numbers had dwindled because of overhunting, but they have rebounded since then thanks to conservation efforts. State officials say the regulations still need to go through a General Assembly review process, but that could be done in the fall.
Thousands of the big birds — which stand 5 feet tall and have a 6-foot wingspan — gather each winter in the Barren River Lake Wildlife Management Area. Hunters have argued for the right to harvest the birds, while others have questioned projections for the cranes' population trends and expressed worries that endangered whooping cranes could be shot by mistake.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Alicia King said federal authorities added some safeguards in an effort to prevent the latter. Hunters will be required to pass an online bird identification course, and the state must hold its sandhill crane season before most whooping cranes arrive, King said.
The hunt would run for 30 days and allow no more than 400 of the birds to be killed. Opponents, however, say they will continue to fight the move. More than a dozen conservation groups, including the Coalition for Sandhill Cranes, have asked Gov. Steve Beshear to stop the hunt. So far, he has declined.
Kentucky Resources Council Director Tom FitzGerald said the groups are considering their options, including the possibility of a lawsuit. "It's certainly not the end of the road," he said.
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