It is conservation red alert for the Great Indian Bustard (GIB) across the country that have disappeared from more than 90 per cent of its former range. Conservationists across the country have urged the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and State Governments concerned to secure and fully protect all “lekking” sites of this endangered species. This may be the single most important step in saving the species.
A lekking site is a traditional place where males gather for competitive display to attract females. If these sites are subjected to disturbance or degradation, GIBs may not be able to breed, and the bird will continue to decline.
In its effort to protect such lekking sites, MoEF has banned all bustard photography during the breeding season from Apr 1 to Oct 31. “However, even disturbance outside the breeding season can have serious implications for the species. Wildlife photographers should therefore voluntarily desist from GIB photography”, says Ramki Sreenivasan, from Conservation India, spearheading the “Save Bustard” campaign in the country.
Further, they have called for launching of full-scale Project Bustard under the aegis of MoEF with adequate funding and authority, on the lines of Project Tiger. It should involve national and international experts, and key people from each of the states where GIB’s are still found.
“If urgent and targeted conservation actions are not taken immediately at specific sites where they still exist, the bird will almost certainly go extinct. It will be India’s first mega species to go extinct in recent times”, says Dr. Pramod Patil, working on GIB conservation since the last 10 years.
The need of the hour is to constitute a GIB task force in every GIB state, with a handpicked membership that includes committed officials from wildlife / forest dept, biologists, conservationists, and local community leaders, he adds.
The experts have also called for examining the feasibility of captive breeding by constituting a core group that includes international experts with experience in breeding bustards or similar endangered birds in captivity. The recovery of the California Condor, a large-sized, slow breeding American bird that was on the verge of extinction, was a result of captive breeding.
The GIB with the last surviving population of about 200 is now confined to only eight pockets in 6 Indian states - Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The largest population of about 100 birds exists in Rajasthan. “It may be already extinct in Madhya Pradesh - there are no reliable current estimates from the state.