The resumption of sandhill crane hunting seasons in some US states has sparked welfare debate, given the species' intelligence, social bonding, and multi-year pair bonds that make hunting deaths potentially socially disruptive.
The welfare concerns specific to sandhill crane hunting center on their unusual characteristics for game birds: exceptional longevity, lifelong pair bonds, and evidence of social cognition that suggests individual relationship maintenance. The death of a bonded partner leaves a surviving crane that shows behavioral changes consistent with grief responses. Mistaken harvest of endangered whooping cranes in mixed flocks represents an additional welfare and conservation concern. The ethical debate around hunting intelligent, long-lived, socially bonded species differs from discussions of shorter-lived waterfowl.