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There are seven billion people on the planet, and each of us has an impact on the animals and plants we share it with. It’s a constant give-and-take, and people have strong opinions. Even though the correct course of action isn’t always obvious, sometimes the needs of human beings have to take priority.

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In Jon Mooallem’s book Wild Ones, he describes the attempt of one organization to save the whooping crane from extinction. It’s a story that may challenge what you thought you knew about the sometimes competing interests of people and animals.

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The North American whooping crane—one of the few living relics of the Pleistocene era—suffered a huge drop in population in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In 1860 there were 1,400 whooping cranes. In 1941 there were just 15, and in 1967 the whooping crane was listed as “endangered.

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Mooallem explains how Operation Migration planned to save the whooping crane by raising a new flock in Wisconsin. The hard part would come next: getting the birds to migrate to Florida. Here’s how they did it: they led the birds there themselves. In a disguised aircraft, that looked and flew like a bird, they flew along with the flock. They avoided talking, and even wore all-white costumes, so that the cranes wouldn’t get too comfortable with humans and would remain wild

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Goal: Get them to Florida and keep them away from humans so they DO NOT become dependent on them.

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When the cranes reached Florida, they were put into a “release pen” with no top netting, so the birds could fly away themselves when they were ready.

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The complex was surrounded by houses.

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In fact, it was practically in the backyard of a couple named Gibbs. And that’s where the second part of the story starts.

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The Gibbses—an elderly couple who’d lived there for 50 years—loved nothing better than to sit on their back porch, sip tea, and watch the birds as they fed from the two bird feeders they’d set up in the backyard. There were all kinds of birds around—but the Gibbs’ favorites were the whooping cranes that had started showing up lately

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As far as Operation Migration was concerned, this could destroy their project. Unless something were done about those feeders, the birds would continue to hang around the Gibbs’ house. They would no longer be wary of people, and wouldn’t be able to survive on their own.

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After explaining the situation to Mrs. Gibbs, representatives from Operation Migration asked her to remove the feeders from her backyard. She refused! Her husband, it turns out, was dying of Alzheimer’s and the only thing that made him happy and brought him into the present was seeing the family of whooping cranes in his own backyard.

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The scientists were unmoved by Mrs. Gibbs’ story. They were thinking of the birds that people had spent 24 hours a day trying to keep wild. They were thinking of all the time and money they had invested in this group of cranes. But in the end they had to back down. How can you ask a woman to choose between her husband and a flock of birds?

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According to Jon Mooallem, Mrs. Gibbs did what any of us would do. As humans, we’re hard-wired to put our particular set of needs above others. We also have a responsibility to be the earth’s caretakers, because of the power we have over other species. And sometimes we have to be comfortable balancing our needs with theirs