Gujarat to set up its own bustard breeding centre
AHMEDABAD: With collaboration of Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and expertise offered by United Arab Emirates (UAE) the state government is planning to set up a breeding centre for great Indian bustards (GIB) at Naliya in Kutch. This will be the first breeding centre in the state for the birds, which are currently on the Red List of threatened species maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Officials in the forest department say that the UAE has been a frontrunner in bustard conservation since 1970 and, in its own territory, it has brought back the houbara bustard from the brink of extinction with successful breeding centres.
With GIBs in Gujarat numbering only 20 according to the last bird count this year, the state has been trying to step up conservation of the majestic birds. There are less than 200 GIB left in India according to IUCN.
GIB conservation efforts in Gujarat faced a major roadblock when the Union government could not set up a breeding centre in Gujarat as Rajasthan refused to send GIB eggs for incubation. Consequently, the Union government decided to set up the breeding centre in Rajasthan, and Gujarat was left in the lurch.
Now, there’s hope that Gujarat may still be able to revive it GIB population following the WII’s proposal to rope in experts from the UAE for a breeding centre. The state government has already identified land for it in Kutch, close to the Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary.
G K Sinha, principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife) said, “There is a proposal from WII to set up a GIB breeding centre in the state and we are considering it.” Sinha added, “We will have the international expertise of UAE available to make the centre a success.”
In Gujarat, GIB are found only in Kutch. They have disappeared from Haryana, Punjab, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, while there are still some in Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Rajasthan.
IUCN had observed in its report on GIB that “rapidly declining species numbers provide a window of less than five years and hence there is a need to take eggs from the wild and hatch them in an artificial breeding centre.”
Govt worried by GIB electrocution
The Gujarat forest department convened a meeting with the energy department, to ensure safety of the birds with regard to high-tension transmission lines of GETCO that pass through the area inhabited by the GIB in Naliya, Kutch.
G K Sinha, principal chief conservator of forests, said, “We have convened a meeting with the energy department and are concerned about the electrocution of a GIB reported on Monday.”
Sources in the forest department said the department may propose the use of underground electricity cables in areas near the Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/gujarat-to-set-up-its-own-bustard-breeding-centre/articleshow/59585405.cms
