ABOVE: Mother and infant sandhill crane in Florida
© ISTOCK, BKAMPRATH
A news article in the Gainesville Sun last week revealed that researchers at the University of Florida had shot more than 150 wild birds that were eating and damaging crops grown on test plots over the course of 10 years. The culled animals included 105 ring-billed gulls and 47 sandhill cranes, a bird whose population has declined such that the state designated it a threatened species.
In 2016, after reviewing the records of the bird culling, the new director of the University of Florida’s Plant Science Research and Education Unit, Jim Boyer, changed the policy so that only nonlethal means could be used against the cranes. Instead of guns, his group brandished scarecrows and reflective tape.
Environmental groups praised the move. “We at Audubon don’t have a lot of sympathy for folks that are eager to take lethal action against ...
