Are you ready to say goodbye to Attwater's prairie chickens?

The Fight to Save a Prairie Chicken.  (The New York Times, 9/4/2015)

The prairie chicken has urgently needed help for some time. Almost a million of them once roamed the coastal prairie of Texas and Louisiana. But by 1919, the birds had disappeared from Louisiana, and in 1967, with only 1,070 left, the chicken, in fact a type of grouse, was listed as endangered.  

Since then, its numbers have declined precipitously, despite a vigorous captive breeding program and painstaking efforts to protect young chicks in the wild. In 2002, the yearly count of the birds by the federal Fish and Wildlife Service, which runs the refuge, dipped to 40, an all-time low. This year’s total was 104.

Of related interest:
Attwater Prairie Chicken.  (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
Attwater's Prairie Chicken.  (Texas Parks & Wildlife)