In a report filed by Fox News, Erik Molvar, who runs environmental group Wild Earth Guardians’ campaign to save the sage grouse, said, “In the 1800’s there were probably more than 16 million of these birds.”

Dr. Charles Kay, a wildlife ecologist at Utah State University, responds in part to that claim and issues surrounding the listing of the sage grouse for Endangered Species Act protection, “It is… ANTI-SCIENCE, as virtually all studies on minimum population size and population viability analysis have concluded that a population of 7,500 animals is in little or no danger of extinction—–with a minimum of 200,000 birds ,THE SPECIES SHOULD NOT EVEN BE COSIDERED———As to the 16 million figure…—–it is FRAUD———–TRUE, the population has been declining since the 1950’s—–DUE TO INCREASED PREDATION WITH THE ELIMINATION OF THE SHEEP INDUSTRY, which once practiced predator control——the same applies to the decline of mule deer. Protect the predators and then declare the bird endangered——–WHAT A SCAM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!———As you and I both know, since we are the only people ,who have studied all the first-person journals of exploration in western NA in detail, sage grouse were NOT COMMON HISTORICALLY—-and they only increased after wide-spread predator control—–and after sagebrush INCREASED due to over-grazing and the elimination of land-management fires SET BY NATIVE PEOPLE.”