Eleven Cheer Pheasants, a threatened Pheasant species, bred in captivity in Himachal are all set to spread their wings and fly in the wild.
The Cheer Pheasant Conservation Breeding Center at Chail has soft-released the captive-bred species including six adults and five chicks at Seri village in district Shimla, with an aim to re-establish the population of Cheer Pheasants in areas where their number have declined due to various reasons including human disturbances.
Three families of the species were transported from the breeding centre and shifted to soft-release pens, where they will stay for about two weeks before the final release into the wild. A soft-release is a precursor to an actual release into the forest area and helps the birds in adapting to the area’s climate and environment.
This would be the second time that the captive- bred Cheer Pheasants will be introduced in the forest. In October last year, 13 Cheer Pheasants were released in the forest in rural Shimla and out of them, two had survived for more than 300 days.
The Cheer Pheasant is a large bird with a long and broad, barred tail, red facial skin, a prominent crest, grayish plumage and proportionally short legs.
“Under the ongoing Cheer Pheasant conservation breeding project that began about two decades ago, three families comprising 11 captive-bred birds have been shifted to soft-released pens in Seri village. After two weeks, the doors of the enclosures will be opened and the birds will be released in the same area where they will face the test of survival in their natural habitat,” said Krishan Kumar, Divisional Forest Officer, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh Forest Department while talking to The Pioneer.
The adult birds aged between four-eight years are fitted with very high frequency (VHF) radio collars that will allow the Himachal Forest Department to monitor their movement in the forest, he said.
Elaborating about the previous attempt to re-introduce the species in the jungle, the DFO said, “Last year, 13 out of 18 birds had survived the soft-release and were subsequently introduced into the forest. Their movements were tracked through VHF radio collars and two of them had survived in the wild for more than 300 days. In fact, a female Cheer Pheasant had also laid six eggs. Although the hatching was not successful, the process of reintroduction showed positive signs in terms of survival of two birds for more than 300 days and also, laying of eggs in the forest, he added.
The breeding centre at Khadiyun, Chail, which is also the natural habitat of the Cheer Pheasant, currently has 56 birds being raised in enclosures.
Cheer Pheasants, locally called chaidh, is particularly associated with areas having steep slopes and scattered trees, especially where rocky cliffs and ravines are present. They usually prefer terrain with steep gradients that are characterised by a combination of low shrubs and tall, dense grass. Notably, Cheer Pheasants are found in India, Pakistan and Nepal. The altitude range for the species varies from the subtropical pine forests to sub-alpine meadow zones at about 1200 m to 3000 m in Himachal Pradesh.
Himachal alone represents seven species of Pheasants out of total seventeen species found in India and fifty one species found in the whole of the world.
Out of seven, two species namely Western Tragopan and Cheer Pheasants have been declared ‘vulnerable’ and are listed in IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) red list of threatened birds globally.
The Cheer Pheasant is included in Schedule-1 of protected species under the Wildlife Protection Act.
According to the Himachal Pradesh Forest Department, in April 1979, there were approximately 40 pairs of Cheer pheasants in Chail WildLife Sanctuary at an average density of 6 pairs / Km2. This population apparently declined by around 50 percent between 1979 and 1983. Their global population is stated to be less than 2,700 birds.
The major threats to Cheer Pheasants are hunting, forest fires, grazing and fodder collection.
Forest fires pose a major threat as it mostly occurs during the breeding season.
Last week, six captive-bred Western Tragopans were also released into the wild by the Himachal Forest Department, in a first such global effort since the conservation and breeding programme for this species began in the 1980s.
Two pairs and two chicks of Western Tragopan raised in the Conservation Breeding Centre in Sarahan, district Shimla were released in Sarkan area at Daranghati Wildlife Sanctuary and each of them were fitted with VHF radio tags for monitoring purposes.