A youngster was spotted chasing a sandhill crane outside Treasure Mountain International School last week, the Park City Police Department was told, at least the second case involving the protected species of bird and a child in recent weeks.
The police received the report at 7:14 a.m. on June 9, with someone telling dispatchers a student was pursuing a bird. The sandhill crane chick might have been separated from its parents, the police were told.
The Police Department indicated state wildlife officials were contacted.
Rick Ryan, a police captain, said people should not harass the birds.
“People need to stay away from wildlife, especially this time of year. There’s a lot of newborns.” Ryan said.
Ryan said he has observed more sandhill cranes in Park City this year than in the past.
The June 9 case came several weeks after an 8-year-old captured one of the birds close to Park City High School. The boy took the sandhill crane home with him. The police and state wildlife officials intervened in the case and retrieved the bird from the boy’s home.
In the earlier case, the boy told the authorities the bird appeared to him to be a duck. The sandhill crane was approximately two weeks old. It was released into the wild at a spot off S.R. 224 close to the McPolin Farm, the location of the nearest known mating sandhill cranes.
The high school is close to Treasure Mountain International School.
Sandhill cranes are common in Summit County. The state Division of Wildlife Resources says sandhill cranes are protected by federal and state laws.