The
critically endangered bird is down to just 160-odd individuals, most of them
surviving in the Thar Desert in Rajasthan.
26/JUN/2019
The great
Indian bustard has been in deep trouble for a while. Once found across India’s
grasslands and dry landscapes, the critically endangered bird is now down to
just 160-odd individuals, most of them surviving in the Thar Desert in
Rajasthan state.
Even in
this last stronghold, survival is hard. Agricultural fields and a growing
network of power
lines and wind turbines have taken over their habitats, while
predators like dogs destroy the eggs that the ostrich-like birds painstakingly
lay down. In a last ditch effort, wildlife researchers along with the forest
department have started a hunt for the birds’ eggs in Rajasthan to begin the
process of captive breeding. On June 20, they managed to collect two bustard
eggs from the wild.
“A
beginning has been made and I hope we are able to save the bird,” Arindam
Tomar, the state’s chief wildlife warden, told Mongabay.
The
Wildlife Institute of India, Rajasthan forest department and India’s
environment ministry have entered into an agreement to build two captive breeding facilities for
the great Indian bustards (Ardeotis nigriceps). The main, bigger facility is
being constructed in the village of Sorsan in southeast Rajasthan, while a
second, smaller facility is being built in Jaisalmer, in the west, close to
where many of the wild birds breed.
The
buildings will take a year or two to come up, Tomar said, but the hunt for eggs
is on because the teams “did not want to miss this year’s breeding season.”
“That was
the urgency of doing it,” he said. “There are only 150 great Indian bustards
surviving in the wild, so every day is precious. We don’t have any captive
population of great Indian bustards at all, we don’t have them in any zoos or
anywhere else.”
Mongabay contacted
two experts from the Wildlife Institute of India involved in the project; one
declined to comment and the other did not respond.
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