Final set of birds in ambitious to reintroduction project has been released at a secret location in Somerset
theguardian.com, Thursday 7 August 2014 16.46 BST
The final set of cranes from an ambitious project to reintroduce the birds to Britain has been released at a secret location in Somerset.
Cranes used to be common throughout the country but were driven to extinction in the 16th century by over-hunting and the loss of wetlands.
Over the past five years, the Great Crane Project has raised five classes of young crane chicks and released almost 100 on to the Somerset Levels and moors.
The classes, including foraging and exercise, were taught by humans dressed in grey hooded overalls to prevent the young birds becoming accustomed to people.
Yesterday, 16 young cranes completed the last 10-week course of Crane School at Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) Slimbridge reserve in Gloucestershire.
They will join previous graduates and it is hoped the crane flock will start to grow naturally as the birds reach maturity and breed.
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