Biologists race to save nearly extinct Fla. bird

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — In a desperate bid to save a nearly extinct species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it’s launching a captive breeding program for Florida’s grasshopper sparrow.

The Tampa Bay Times (http://bit.ly/ZBZIeW) reports that if officials do nothing, experts predict the sparrow will go extinct in three to five years, just like its cousin, the dusky seaside sparrow. The dusky disappeared in 1987 when the last survivor died at Disney World.