Published: January 28, 2009 10:56 pm         

Salt Plains refuge personnel to scare off sandhill cranes with propane cannons

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel from Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge have set up propane cannons to scare sandhill cranes away from fields where more than 150 of the birds have died after eating moldy peanuts.

There have been two incidents they have been investigated.

The first happened Dec. 29, when U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel were asked to investigate a sandhill crane die-off on peanut fields near Ringwood. Around 30 dead cranes were found southwest of Ringwood. Peanuts left in the field after harvest had molded, becoming a hazard to wildlife, according to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service news release.

Some peanuts normally are left on fields after harvest, but due to wet weather conditions last fall, peanuts and other grains became affected by mold. A random sampling of cranes was sent into the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis.

An examination showed the cranes died from fusariotoxin poisoning, a form of mycotoxicosis. Myco-toxicosis is a non-infectious disease that is caused when mycotoxins, toxins produced by molds, are ingested, according to the news release. Symptoms of mycotoxicosis include difficulty in keeping balance, flaccid paralysis or weakness of the neck and wing muscles, feed refusal and vomiting. Birds tend to show the most common symptom of neck and wing weakness.

The other incident happened Jan. 13 when Major County game warden Frank Hubert received a call about dead and dying birds on peanut fields two miles from the first incident. Salt Plains personnel responded with Hubert.

They found 122 dead or dying cranes spread out over peanut fields. Refuge personnel transported the dead cranes back to the refuge, where they could be incinerated as a precaution. Some were sent to the National Wildlife Health Center for examination. Examination results are pending.

The propane cannons that have been set up are used to scare cranes and other wildlife from using the peanut fields as a roosting or feeding site. This is done to protect other migratory birds, especially the endangered whooping crane, from landing on fields where mycotoxins may be present, according to the news release. Whooping cranes, a highly endangered species with only about 260 birds remaining in the wild and less than 500 birds remaining in the world, will migrate through Okla-homa in April.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Natural Resource Conservation Service and Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation urge farmers to till under their fields in the fall after peanuts are harvested. People also are asked to notify Oklahoma Depart-ment of Wildlife Conservation or U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service if they notice dead or sick cranes or other migratory birds. Contact ODWC regional biologist Steve Conrady, (580) 541-5346; Major County game warden Frank Hubert, (580) 227-0393; or U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge, (580) 626-4794.