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Wattled Crane Recovery
Program (WCRP)
The Wattled Crane is one of five Critically
Endangered birds in South Africa and is the most
threatened crane species on the African continent. The
Wattled Crane Recovery Programme (WCRP) aims to prevent
the local extinction of the Wattled Crane in South
Africa by breeding Wattled Cranes in captivity and
releasing their offspring into existing wild flocks.
The WCRP rescues Wattled Crane eggs that would
normally be abandoned in the wild and the resultant
chicks are either incorporated into an existing ex situ
breeding flock or released back into the wild flock.
Wild Wattled Cranes occasionally lay two eggs but will
only raise one chick, abandoning the second egg once the
first egg has hatched. Natal Wildlife grants an annual
permit for the collection of Wattled Crane second eggs
as this has no detrimental effect on the wild
population. The eggs are harvested by experienced
fieldworkers and the resultant chicks costume-reared to
prevent human imprinting. Offspring of the ex situ
breeding flock will be used to supplement the in situ
population.
In order for captive-reared Wattled
Cranes to survive in the wild, they must be reared in
such a way that they develop sufficient survival skills,
such as appropriate feeding behavioural and predator
aversion tactics. For the past thirty-three years,
conservationists in North America have been successful
in recovering endangered crane populations through the
release of human-reared cranes into existing wild crane
populations by utilising a technique called
'costume-rearing' or 'puppet-rearing'. During the
rearing process, human caretakers dress in crane
costumes and mimic the behaviours of adult cranes in an
effort to teach young cranes survival skills.
Feasibility trials were conducted to assess the
potential for utilising this technique to increase South
Africa's Wattled Crane population, during which a total
of thirteen Wattled Crane chicks were reared by humans
wearing crane costumes and utilising a crane puppet. The
initial trials were successful and once the
costume-reared chicks reached fledging age, they were
released into existing wild flocks and were successfully
integrated into the wild population.
www.ewt.org.za
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