Count your blessings, Danville. For reasons, not entirely clear, the population of Hawai'i's native crow, the 'alala, has dwindled to such a low level that extinction looms, even as federal and state agencies are debating ways to save it. Their efforts may be for naught, especially if the captive breeding stock is not augmented by genes from the last wild flock. But attempts to capture birds from the wild have been stymied in recent years by the refusal of private landowners to grant officials access to the areas where the birds are thought to nest. The landowners claim they are protecting the birds.
Critics claim they're protecting their own hides.
In any event, the 'alala's fate may be decided in court. The Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, on behalf of the Hawai'i Audubon Society, is suing to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to capture the wild birds. If the birds in the wild and the birds in captivity can hold out until the litigation ends, the 'alala may just have a chance.