WhoopingCrane_ThatFarGone_Clapper_Russel_AnahuacTX_20June1998_Reel1018.mp3

Russel Clapper [00:00:01] Well, the year that I left, there were, 34 or 36 in 1950.

Russel Clapper [00:00:07] And there was, there was a guy that always flew the flights, the same little pilot. And a different refuge employee would go up with him. I never did. But they would do this aerial count.

Russel Clapper [00:00:23] So we were sure, absolutely positive of 34. And we had had a mishap. We had to go down and round up another bird that was injured. It had a hole through its neck, like a .22 would make. And it wasn't healing up properly, and the bird was hurting. And he wasn't very hard to catch.

Russel Clapper [00:00:49] And we went down and I was holding the bird on my lap, you know, as we were going back to headquarters. And it died in my lap before we got back. He was that far gone.

Russel Clapper [00:01:00] So after that, we, Washington got concerned and everybody got concerned, so they initiated daily patrols.