Louisiana
4 young, endangered whooping cranes are ready for the Louisiana wild. See their journey.
A rare bird species that once vanished from Louisiana is making a steady comeback as four more whooping cranes were released into the wild last month.
The release of the young birds, which were raised at a facility on the Westbank, is part of a years-long effort to bring the endangered species back to Louisiana.
The whooping crane is one of the rarest bird species in the world, according to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. They are large-bodied birds that can grow up to five feet tall with wingspans of up to eight feet, and can live up to 30 years in the wild.
Over the past seven years, the Audubon Nature Institute and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has released over 50 cranes into the White Lake Westland Conservation Area in Vermillion Parish. Many of the birds, including the four released last month, were hatched and raised at Audubon’s facility.
“We’re making great strides,” said Richard Dunn, the facility’s assistant curator, “and we’re starting to see the results of what we’re doing.”
Every year, staffers name the baby cranes according to a theme, Dunn added. This year’s theme was pasta shapes, so the four released cranes were named Gigli, Vermicelli, Fiori and Gemelli.
Lafayette-based professional photographer Kelly Morvant spotted a family of whooping cranes in a field in rural Acadia Parish — note the juvenile crane visible in the grass.
Whooping cranes, which are white with distinctive red heads and black facial markings, once roamed the state as both non-migratory and migratory species. But their numbers began to dwindle as humans converted their habitat into farmland and hunted the birds, whose feathers became popular clothing accessories.
By 1950, the last living whooping crane in Louisiana was transported to a wildlife refuge on the Texas coast.
But in 2011, the state started an effort to reintroduce the birds into the wild. That first year, ten young cranes entered the conservation area in Vermillion Parish.
Since 2017, when Audubon joined the effort, the environmental organization has released 55 cranes, 31 of which were hatched at the Freeport-McMoRan Audubon Species Survival Center. With the addition of the four new birds, there are now 77 whooping cranes across the state and over 700 nationwide, Dunn said.
Skylar McMillan with the Audubon Nature Institute boards a boat with the four juvenile Whooping Cranes after they were tagged Tuesday, Nov. 7, at White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area. The birds were taken to a holding pen pending their release into the wild.
“The addition of these young cranes is another important step in restoring a once-thriving species to the Louisiana landscape,” Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Madison Sheahan said in a statement.
Staff from the Audubon Institute and the state wildlife department raised the baby birds at the Westbank facility. This year, most of the young cranes, called “colts,” were hatched from eggs that came from a migratory flock in Wisconsin, but one chick came from an egg laid by Louisiana cranes. Two unreleased birds were kept at the facility for future breeding.
The goal of the program is to create a self-sustaining population of non-migratory whooping cranes in the state, part of a national push to move the birds from endangered to threatened. In Louisiana, a self-sustaining population of whooping cranes would require about 120 birds with 30 reproducing pairs to survive in the wild for a decade.
“This is the point of what we do,” Dunn said, “see the birds increase in the wild.”
Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) has been reported in a hunter-harvested white-tailed buck in Concordia Parish, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) said. The buck was harvested on Richard K. Yancey Wildlife Management Area (WMA) and is the first CWD detection in a wild deer in Concordia Parish.
CWD was first detected in Louisiana in 2022. The latest positive brings the total number of CWD detections for Louisiana to 44.
Initial diagnostics by the Louisiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (LADDL) detected CWD prion in tissue samples submitted by LDWF. Per required protocol, LADDL has forwarded the sample to the National Veterinary Services Laboratory (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa for confirmatory testing. Final confirmation is anticipated in the coming weeks.
Due to this preliminary detection during the ongoing deer season, hunters are encouraged to submit additional hunter-harvest samples for testing. A CWD sample drop-off site is located along Highway 15 near the northern boundary of Richard K. Yancey WMA.
To obtain viable samples for testing, a fresh head including a few inches of neck is required. Data submission cards and bags are available on site. Once completed, the bagged deer head and data card should be placed in the available cooler at the CWD drop-off site.
LDWF is currently in the process of implementing the LDWF CWD response plan. More information regarding the response plan and intended mitigation efforts for this area will be forthcoming.
“We continue to count on our hunters, property owners, deer processors and taxidermists for their assistance in monitoring CWD as their continued partnership with our department will help manage the expanse of CWD in the state keeping our deer population healthy,’’ LDWF Secretary Tyler Bosworth said.
CWD is a neurodegenerative disease of white-tailed deer and other members of the Cervidae family. The disease is caused by a prion, an infectious, misfolded protein particle, and is 100-percent fatal in affected deer after an indeterminate incubation period. There is no treatment or preventative vaccine for CWD. CWD-infected deer may exhibit symptoms of weight loss and emaciation, salivation, frequent drinking and urination, incoordination, circling, lack of human fear, and subsequent death of the animal.
Although CWD has not been shown to be contagious to humans, the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization recommend against the human consumption of deer known to be infected with CWD. Also, it is recommended that people hunting in areas known to harbor CWD-infected deer have their deer tested for the disease prior to consumption. LDWF provides CWD testing for hunter-harvested deer free of charge.
For more information on CWD, go to https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/page/cwd.
Questions can be addressed to Dr. Jonathan Roberts at jroberts@wlf.la.gov or Johnathan Bordelon at jbordelon@wlf.la.gov.
Louisiana’s approach to expanding high-speed internet access is being recognized on the national stage,
Recently, The Wall Street Journal highlighted the state as a model for reducing costs while accelerating broadband deployment.
In a recent editorial, the Journal pointed to Louisiana as a case study in how streamlined regulations and efficient program design can significantly lower the cost of connecting households and businesses to high-speed internet.
According to the Journal, Louisiana sharply reduced its average cost per connection after adopting updated federal guidance.
“The average cost for each new household or business connected in Louisiana fell to $3,943 from $5,245,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
The editorial credited fewer procedural requirements and increased private-sector participation as key factors allowing states like Louisiana to stretch taxpayer dollars further while expanding access, particularly in rural and underserved areas.
Louisiana’s broadband strategy has drawn attention not only for its cost savings but also for how state leaders plan to reinvest those savings.
In September, Gov. Jeff Landry sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick outlining a proposal to redirect remaining broadband funds into state-led initiatives aligned with national priorities, including artificial intelligence, education, and workforce development.
In the letter, Landry requested federal flexibility to allow Louisiana to keep and use remaining grant funds within the state, rather than returning or reallocating them elsewhere. The governor argued that reinvesting the savings locally would support long-term economic growth, innovation, and community development across Louisiana.
Louisiana was also the first state in the nation to submit a revised broadband plan under the updated federal framework, positioning it at the forefront of efficient high-speed internet deployment. State officials said the approach not only accelerates connectivity but also opens the door to broader investments that strengthen education systems, workforce readiness, and emerging technologies.
As The Wall Street Journal noted, Louisiana’s experience is increasingly being viewed as a national example of how states can modernize infrastructure programs while delivering better value for taxpayers — a model that could influence broadband policy well beyond state lines.
BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – The U.S. Department of Transportation under President Donald Trump is seeking a record $9.6 million civil penalty against a pipeline operator over a massive offshore oil spill that sent more than 1 million gallons of crude into waters off Louisiana.
Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, known as PHMSA, announced the proposed penalty against Panther Operating Company for violations tied to the November 2023 failure of the Main Pass Oil Gathering pipeline system.
PHMSA said the $9,622,054 penalty is the largest civil fine ever proposed in a pipeline safety enforcement action.
Federal investigators concluded the spill released about 1.1 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf after a subsea pipeline connector failed and operators did not shut the system down for hours.
“Safety drives everything we do,” Duffy said in a statement. “When companies fail to abide by the rules, we won’t hesitate to act decisively.”
According to PHMSA, the violations involved failures in integrity management, operations and maintenance, leak detection, emergency response and protections for high-consequence areas.
The agency also proposed a compliance order requiring Panther to overhaul how it evaluates geological and geotechnical risks affecting the pipeline system.
The spill occurred along the 67-mile Main Pass Oil Gathering system, which transports crude oil from offshore production areas south of New Orleans. Oil was first spotted roughly 19 miles off the Mississippi River Delta, near Plaquemines Parish.
Federal investigators later determined the pipeline was not shut down for nearly 13 hours after pressure data first suggested a problem. Regulators said quicker action could have significantly reduced the volume released.
The National Transportation Safety Board said underwater landslides and storm-related seabed movement contributed to the failure and that the operator did not adequately account for known geohazards common in the Gulf.
PHMSA said Panther must now develop a plan to protect the pipeline against future external forces such as seabed instability, erosion and storm impacts. The company has 30 days to respond to the notice of probable violation and proposed penalty.
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