On May 11, 1947
the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology established a monument to the
extinction of the Passenger Pigeon. The monument was dedicated by none other
than author and environmental philosopher Aldo Leopold, the first wildlife
biology professor at the University of Wisconsin
The monument resides in
Wyalusing State Park at the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers
in Grant County just south of Prairie du Chien. For the 100th anniversary of
the extinction (the last bird, a female, died in the Cincinnati Zoo in
September 1914) the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology has redesigned the
monument and will be re-dedicating it on Saturday May 17th 2014
The original monument to
the pigeon was immortalized in Aldo Leopold's essay “A Monument to a Pigeon” that was published in "A Sand County Almanac." (That's an Eastern Wood-Pewee singing in the background at the start of the video).
I'm headed back home to
Wisconsin for the rededication ceremony for this most somber occasion. The
photo at the top of this post shows the design and wording on the new monument.
Saw a TED Talk on "De-extinction" and screw the mammoth but several teams genetic are piecing the Passenger Pigeon's genome back together and are within a few years of starting the process that will bring them back from oblivion. Yeah, it's not a done deal yet but...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ted.com/talks/stewart_brand_the_dawn_of_de_extinction_are_you_ready