Every winter, hundreds of Whooping Cranes migrate to Texas to escape the harsh cold of Canada.
The birds are endangered, and thus incredibly rare.
The Wolfberry Whooping Crane Sanctuary, a joint venture between different conservation groups, opened along the Gulf Coast, and will for provide the birds a safe wintering ground for their yearly visits.
According to Yahoo, the whooping crane almost went extinct in the ‘40s, with its numbers dropping to just 21 in the wild, 16 of which were in Texas.
Today, some 550 birds migrate every winter from Canada to Texas, so while their numbers have risen conservation groups know there is still work to be done.
Carter Crouch, director of the Gulf Coast programs for the International Crane Foundation, said, "We have a long way to go still, so there's a lot of story to be written, and I'm super excited to be a small part of that."
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