CHICAGO (AP) – A wildlife biologist has taken prairie chickens from Kansas, which has a more robust population, and released them in Illinois in an effort to boost the population of the endangered birds.
The Chicago Tribune reports that the birds once numbered in the millions across Illinois but there are now about 200 left.
The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services published a pioneering scientific report this week on biodiversity. The study found that 1 million species, including the prairie chicken, remain imperiled.
Illinois Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist Bob Gillespie says a recent translocation project that captured prairie chickens from Kansas and freed them into the Prairie Ridge preserve has helped protect the birds stave off extinction.
