Updated 6:16 pm, Saturday,
August 27, 2016
HILO, Hawaii (AP) — A dozen birds
native to Hawaii will be released in November to end over a decade of
extinction in the wild for the species.
The corvid is part of the crow
family and will be reintroduced at a natural area reserve aviary, the Hawaii
Tribune-Herald reported (http://bit.ly/2bOs2LC).
State and federal wildlife
officials along with the San Diego
Zoo have
planned more releases over a five-year period.
First-year costs will be $800,000
and decrease by about half after that. The zoo and federal and state dollars
fund the program.
"It's been such a long-term
and large-scale conservation effort," said project coordinator Jackie
Gaudioso-Levita. "We are extremely excited to see and hear
'alala in the wild."
The 12 birds are going to an
aviary to ease the transition from captivity.
Predators and disease killed 21
of 27 corvids that were raised in captivity and then released in the 1990s.
San Diego Zoo experts are giving
chicks in this latest group lessons in hiding from predators.
The release was postponed to
November from mid-September.
"It's to make sure that
every aspect of the project is completely ready to go," Gaudioso-Levita
said.
Public outreach for the project
has been ongoing.
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