Whoooops

The crane family is composed of fourteen species of tall wading birds. Contrary to popular misconceptions, the heron is not even closely related to the cranes, which are, of course, family Gruidae. The rarest and noblest crane of all is the American whooping crane, order Gruiformes, or simply Grus americana. Like other cranes, the whooping crane prefers life in a marsh, where it can munch away merrily on snails, insects, shoots, and seeds. The whooping crane is distinct from other cranes in that it has a longer neck, a wing span of up to seven feet, and only twenty-nine living examples.

The long-range decline of the whooping crane can be traced to progress and the ensuing process of swamp drainage. A more recent short run problem has been the happy hunter who blasts away and, to his later regret, destroys one or more Grus americana. The most immediate problem facing the whooping crane is unfolding at the Audubon Park Zoo in New Orleans, where Josephine, a splendid female whooper, has just laid two eggs (referred to as a "clutch"). Since breeding wild in west-central Canada is a slow and dubious process at best, zoo breeding is a major hope of whooping crane lovers. It has been discovered that if the clutch is stolen, the female crane will lay another, and repeat the process again after a second theft.

In short, they want to steal Josephine's eggs. And while it might seem worthwhile to breed the whooping crane in any way possible, notice should be given to the Fish and Wildlife Service (we know what they do to trout when they get the chance) that some things are sacred and that Josephine, for one, should be able to stand by her rights. That is, Josephine should sit one, her own eggs. She laid them, she should hatch them. Better the species should perish than Josephine should be denied the full satisfactions of motherhood.