Raising and Releasing Sage Grouse article...... The definition of insanity?

This is interesting, and hope it does not gain traction. Seems like more of a business opportunity than anything......


http://trib.com/business/energy/a-w...l&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=user-share

Interesting article. It's also interesting they referenced the Atwatters prairie chicken. To my knowledge, the Atwatters are unable to put forth viable broods on their own, and the only reason they haven't blinked out is because of the captive breeding program. This is a far cry from success, IMO.

If state law allows captive rearing, I don't see any harm in trying it. However, past results don't bode well for the success of the endeavor. I could see captive rearing and release being used to try and establish new populations in areas where habitat has been rehabilitated. However, I'd hate to see them dumped into prime habitat as a way of "keeping bird numbers up".

Captive reared birds don't survive well, and when they do survive they don't reproduce well. That pattern has been pretty well established.

Yeah despite any good intentions these seem like futile efforts to prop up bird numbers up without making the habitat improvements necessary for sustainable population growth.

If they turn out anything like every other pen raised game bird this is just a welfare benefit for coyotes..

Habitat..Habitat..Habitat..

Quackillr said:

If they turn out anything like every other pen raised game bird this is just a welfare benefit for coyotes..

Habitat..Habitat..Habitat..

Click to expand...

There used to be a Chukar breeder just west of Elko NV and some idiot bunny huggers went in and liberated the chukars from captivity. Those captive raised birds were so stupid that they wandered out onto I 80 and most of them got squashed without ever trying to fly away.
Anyone who has ever hunted chukars knows a wild bird would never act like that.