legion357 - Scout8 was correct in their statement. Overhunting is one of the main reasons that the whooping cranes became endangered in the first place. This happened way before any laws were developed to protect species. They were hunted mainly for their beautiful feathers.

i spent many weekends camping in Aransas National Wildlife Refuge with the old bsa troop, good times.

beautiful piece of land, hopefully all in this area get out there and enjoy it.

I sure did, that was funny stuff.

Legion, Gotta love those Whooping Ducks and you forgot the Elicans!

"because of irresponsible human actions such as overhunting, pollution, political bribery, and poor land and wildlife management. "

Scout8, I suggest you do more research, protected species are not hunted and very rarely killed by humans.

There is nothing wrong with protecting a species of wildlife, but to state a blanket statement as in your comment is wrong, for the simple reason that it is not true.

Hunters are some of the largest promoters of wildlife sustainability.

Notice all the stories about vehicles accidents involving Deer. Why has this just occurred? Not from over hunting or man made environmental problems, from the exact opposite, a lack of hunters.

Save, the Whooping cranes..... how about save the Blue Crabs, the cranes primary food source?

Free Willy, save the Killer Whales, but a large part of their diet is seals, but save the Seals and Polar Bears, but a large part of Polar Bears diet is Seals.

Do you get my drift? Which species that eats another are we suppose to protect?

As my daughter called them when she was little... whooping ducks! lol

I'm always amazed at the attitude of arrogant humans who demand that a species evolve fast enough to keep up with reckless human activities, which have driven it close to extinction.

There's nothing natural about human ignorance driving a species toward extinction. And wildlife is often near extinction because of irresponsible human actions such as overhunting, pollution, political bribery, and poor land and wildlife management.

But of course that is all the whooping cranes' fault -- because this poor bird was unlucky enough to be on the same planet as us.

As for Aransas NWR -- I do want to point out that it's not a "park" but a national wildlife refuge, which operates under different rules than an American national park. Wildilfe refuges are the only federal lands where wildlife is supposed to come first -- not humans.

And I'm not surprised at the visitation numbers. Birding in America is a billion dollar business, and many states would be wise to make the most of their ecotourism and birding offerings, as they can enrich local economies at the same time these activities are helping wildlife species.