Twenty-two endangered Attwater's prairie chickens - 11 cocks and 11 hens - were set out in two pens Friday afternoon to acclimate to their new home in Goliad County, a ranch where the birds were last seen in 1998.
There are only an estimated 44 birds living in the wild and 220 in six breeding facilities around the state.
The Goliad and Refugio prairies are the heart of historic prairie chicken territory.
The operation to re-establish the 22 birds was more like a clandestine spy operation than a bird relocation. Media were allowed to attend, but only on the condition that the site of the prairie chicken's new home was kept secret.
The parking lot of a Goliad fast food restaurant was jammed with white government pickups and a big van that had brought the birds down from the breeding facility in Fossil Rim Wildlife Center near Glen Rose where they were hatched.
The remarkable attempt at re-establishing the endangered birds in historic territory is unique because they are being placed with the enthusiastic cooperation of the landowners and a group of state, federal and private conservation groups. It is the first time that captive-bred juvenile Attwater's prairie chickens have been released into the wild on private ranchland.
