What a wingnut this representative from Casper is :
By MATT JOYCE
Associated Press writer
CHEYENNE -- The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission is set to discuss rules for sage grouse farming in light of an attorney general's opinion that the commission is legally bound to adopt regulations for raising the popular game birds in captivity.
In September, the commission sought guidance from the Attorney General's Office on whether it could refrain from adopting regulations for private sage grouse farming, despite legislative direction to do so. The commission was hesitant to enact rules because of concerns that the bird isn't conducive to captive rearing, a spokesman said.
"They're going to review the AG's opinion and then decide how to move forward on the proposed regulations that they reviewed at their previous meeting," Game and Fish spokesman Eric Keszler said of the commission's Monday meeting in Jackson.
The Legislature earlier this year directed Game and Fish to develop regulations to allow farms to raise native sage grouse for release. The chicken-like bird is found mostly on the sagebrush plains and high desert in Wyoming, as well as in other Western states.
Biologists say the number of the birds has been declining because of factors including long-term drought, West Nile virus and habitat destruction associated with energy, housing and other development. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is currently studying whether the bird should be granted federal protections.
"We do raise different kinds of sport animals -- we raise a lot of fish, we raise a lot of pheasants -- and I really have a hard time understanding why we can't raise a couple of sage grouse and take them out there and let some guys hunt them," state Sen. Kit Jennings, R-Casper, who introduced the legislation, said Wednesday. "Especially if we're releasing them in areas that don't have sage grouse now."
The Game and Fish Department developed farming rules over the summer, but nearly all public comment was against the concept.
The space and mating requirements of sage grouse haven't proved to be conducive to captive rearing, according to department biologists.
Other bird groups have raised concern about disease risks associated with raising grouse with other birds and then releasing them into the wild. They also said untrained bird farmers could do great harm to native sage grouse populations under rules allowing them to gather eggs from the wild.
Jennings said the farming measure is intended to help provide sage grouse for hunting, especially considering the toll that development takes on sage grouse habitat.
"The way that the amendment read was to allow private bird farms to raise sage grouse," Jennings said. "So if you let the private bird farms go out there and figure out how to raise them, then we're not putting any state money in there. If the private bird farms can't figure out how to raise them, and there's no money in raising and selling sage grouse, then they won't do it."
In response to the commission's September question, the Attorney General's Office said the language of a 2008 law requires the adoption of rules for sage grouse farming within a reasonable period of time.
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