Unto the Least of These (c.1970)

Year Published: c.1970

Format: 16mm

Sound: sound

Description: This educational film from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) describes the plight of the Attwater’s Prairie Chicken, a highly endangered species of the prairie chicken native to coastal Texas. The film follows one colony of the bird that was living on Ellington Air Force Base in Houston and causing traffic problems for the U.S. Air Force. Scenes of TPWD workers capturing the birds with nets suspended from helicopters are followed by the birds arriving at Texas A&M University for transmitter implants, wing clipping, and artificial propagation studies before being released in their new home - a Prairie Chicken Wildlife Refuge in Eagle Lake. The film reports that if action is not taken, the Attwater’s Prairie Chicken would be extinct by the year 2000. Although still on the highly endangered species list, the Attwater’s Prairie Chicken still exists!