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Hunters helped save rare bird from extinction
Tuesday, December 13, 2005; Posted: 11:13 a.m. EST (16:13 GMT)
Manage Alerts | What Is This? WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- A hunting lodge with antler chandeliers and stuffed ducks on the walls seems a strange place to celebrate the comeback of the ivory-billed woodpecker, but wildlife officials are doing exactly that.
They credit hunters in particular with helping bring the rare bird back from presumed extinction in the Big Woods section of Arkansas.
"The people of Arkansas, the hunting and fishing community, conserved these woods," Scott Simon of The Nature Conservancy told reporters on Monday at the Mallard Pointe Lodge, where a coalition of environmentalists, academics and wildlife officials rejoiced in woodpecker's return to the living.
Simon said hunters and others helped save the bird in large part by buying Duck Stamps, at $15 each. These stamps are not for postage, but pay for a federal migratory bird conservation fund, and eventually added up to $41 million to reclaim much of the habitat of the endangered woodpecker.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005; Posted: 11:13 a.m. EST (16:13 GMT)
Manage Alerts | What Is This? WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- A hunting lodge with antler chandeliers and stuffed ducks on the walls seems a strange place to celebrate the comeback of the ivory-billed woodpecker, but wildlife officials are doing exactly that.
They credit hunters in particular with helping bring the rare bird back from presumed extinction in the Big Woods section of Arkansas.
"The people of Arkansas, the hunting and fishing community, conserved these woods," Scott Simon of The Nature Conservancy told reporters on Monday at the Mallard Pointe Lodge, where a coalition of environmentalists, academics and wildlife officials rejoiced in woodpecker's return to the living.
Simon said hunters and others helped save the bird in large part by buying Duck Stamps, at $15 each. These stamps are not for postage, but pay for a federal migratory bird conservation fund, and eventually added up to $41 million to reclaim much of the habitat of the endangered woodpecker.
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