Cranes undertake some of the most dramatic migrations on Earth, and the welfare of these birds during migration depends critically on the availability of safe, food-rich stopover sites.
Crane migration welfare is shaped by the quality and safety of stopover sites along flyways spanning thousands of kilometers. Cranes that exhaust fat reserves during migration without finding adequate food must continue flying in an energetically compromised state, causing suffering and increasing mortality. Agricultural landscapes that once provided abundant waste grain have been transformed by efficiency improvements, reducing crane food availability. Hunting along migration routes causes acute welfare harm and mortality. Poisoning from lead ammunition in areas where cranes feed on agricultural fields causes prolonged suffering. Protecting key stopover sites and reducing hunting and poisoning along flyways are the highest-impact conservation welfare interventions available.