CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - West Virginia officials announced a restoration project was underway to bring back bobwhite quail, which disappeared from the state in the late 1970s due to a combination of habitat destruction and harsh winters.
The five-year plan launched last week when 48 of the birds were captured in Texas and released at the Tomblin Wildlife Management Area, news outlets reported.
The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources was working with the Texas Parks and Wildlife agency on the plan, according to a news release from the governor’s office.
Transmitters have been placed on some of the quail for monitoring. The goal is to create “a self-sustaining population” of quail, said Michael Peters, DNR Game Bird and Small Game Project Leader, in the release.
The restoration effort has been underway for the past several years. The state DNR acquired the Tomblin WMA, a 32,000-acre tract of former surface-mined land in Logan and Mingo counties, in 2015.
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