Whooping cranes mean more than people.

[Smalls]

Well, the first group was 10 birds, and the budget for the first year was $400,000, so that works out to about $40,000 a bird. Of course, the birds themselves didn't cost that, but if you want to divide it up that way, that's what you get.

If you look back in LDWF's archives, the reward was the same amount when the birds were killed last summer. Don't know why everyone is making such a big deal out of this now. If people had such a problem with it, why didn't the raise hell about it when the project was first starting?