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The Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis Nigriceps) on the Verge of Extinction

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The Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis Nigriceps) on the Verge of Extinction CORRESPONDENCE The Ramro Korang Lake is a good loca- rockpore or other international fisheries/ Sunder and Madan Mohan), 2005, pp. 77– tion for the development of aquaculture. aquaculture organizations, to start research 86. This lake has the potential to fulfil the in the field of aquaculture development. 3. Das, D. N. et al., Report, Collaborative fish requirement of the East Siang District, Also, a survey needs to be conducted for project between National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Lucknow and Depart- which currently depends upon other identification of lakes in Arunachal Pra- ment of Zoology, RGU, Itanagar, India, states for the supply of fishes. desh, so that all these lakes are documen- FTR Zone II, ICAR Project No. FB-22, The lake is totally unexplored as far as ted and a proper programme formulated 2006, p. 10. its aquatic diversity and water quality for their utilization and development for analysis are concerned. Therefore, this aquaculture. lake deserves top priority from the natio- KESHAV KUMAR JHA nal institutions of fisheries, such as Na- tional Research Centre on Cold Water 1. Nath, P. and Dey, S. C., Fish and Fisheries Fisheries, Bhimtal; National Bureau of of North–East India (Arunachal Pradesh), Fish Germplasm Explorations Fish Genetic Resources, Lucknow; Cen- Narendra Publishing House, Delhi, 2000, Laboratory, tral Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, p. 217. Department of Zoology, Bhubaneshwar; Central Institute of Fish- 2. Raina, H. S., In Coldwater Fisheries Jawaharlal Nehru College, eries Education, Mumbai, and Central Research and Development in North-east Pasighat 791 103, India Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Bar- Region of India (eds Tyagi, B. C., Shyam e-mail: [email protected] The Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps) on the verge of extinction Bustards are magnificent, tall, long-necked management, corruption and poaching. their decline. In addition to over-grazing, and long-legged birds belonging to the Their highest living number is found in expanding agricultural fields and urbani- avian family Otididae. There are about Rajasthan, followed by Gujarat. The zation, the Indira Gandhi Nahar Project 23 species of bustards in the world, and Desert National Park (DNP), Rajasthan (IGNP) and the better transport facilities the Great Indian Bustard (GIB; Ardeotis is the biggest of GIB sanctuaries4, with have also contributed to their decline. nigriceps) is the most endangered among only 70–75 individuals left5. The second The Bombay Natural History Society these. main protected hotspot of their survival has extensively studied the decline of this The GIB, the state bird of Rajasthan, is is the Lala–Parjan Sanctuary (also known bird and has strongly urged the starting of a shy bird living in arid and semi-arid as the Kutch GIB Sanctuary) in Gujarat. a centrally-sponsored ‘Project Bustard’ (dry) grasslands and scrubs containing Their population has declined drasti- (like Project Tiger) as a conservation scattered bushes and some cultivation. cally, despite the fact the birds are con- strategy6. The GIB, once abundant in the grass- sidered rare and are being protected since Listed in Schedule-I of the Wildlife lands across the Indian subcontinent, is India’s independence. Habitat deteriora- Protection Act 1972 (India), the GIB is reportedly extinct from 90% of its former tion, poaching and lack of proper conser- classified as ‘endangered’ on the IUCN range1. Now, the GIB is confined to some vation efforts are the main causes for Red List 2002, and Birdlife International parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh in India, and Sind in Pakistan1, in scattered and isolated populations. During the 19th century, flocks of more than 20 GIBs were a common sight in the Indian grasslands, but now even a flock of three is a rare sighting. According to Rahmani2, their popula- tion has declined to almost 50% during the last 10–15 years. Today, their total number is estimated to be about 500 in- dividuals3. In India, the GIB is protected in 12 4 sanctuaries . Ironically, it has disappeared from two such sanctuaries meant for its Figure 1. a, The Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps); b, Its habitat. (Courtesy: protection2 and the cause could be mis- Bird Life International1). 1108 CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 95, NO. 9, 10 NOVEMBER 2008 CORRESPONDENCE has also classified it as ‘endangered’ in Protected dry grasslands, bigger sanc- 6. Rahmani, A. R., J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., the Red Data Book in 2000. Its interna- tuaries and captive breeding may save 1996, 93, 442–458. tional trade and killings are prohibited, this bird. Otherwise, the GIB will be ex- 7. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/ as it is listed in Appendix-I of the CITES. tinct in the next 5–10 years. PoliticsNation/Maha_Govt_to_approach_ SC_for_reducing_bird_sanctuary_area/ In November 2004, the World Conser- articleshow/3202661.cms vation Congress had urged the Govern- 8. http://www.gunaah.com/index.php?id=46&t ment of India to start ‘Project Bustard’ x_ttnews[tt_news]=1703&tx_ttnews[backPid (on the lines of Project Tiger) to protect 1. Bird Life International, Species factsheet: ]=1&cHash=642d83c449 the GIB and the other Indian bustards Ardeotis nigriceps, 2008; available online and their habitats3. Some misguided ef- at www.birdlife.org 7,8 2. http://www.care4nature.org/wildindia/bust forts in Maharashtra to limit the area of ABHAY S. D. RAJPUT ard/ the GIB sanctuary from the originally 2 2 3. http://www.iucn.org/congress/2004/members proposed 8500 km to only 347 km can /Individual_Res_Rec_Eng/wcc3_rec_115. (S. Ramaseshan Fellow), be dangerous to protect the bird. How- pdf H. No. 59, L. No. 1, Munshi Chak, ever, the Rajasthan Government is keen 4. http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ Opp. Old Chungi, Camp Road, to revive the falling GIB population and ie/daily/19991108/ige08015.html Talab Tillo, is planning to widen the DNP by relocat- 5. Dey, A., Times of India, New Delhi, 22 Jammu 180 002, India ing the nearby nine villages5. July 2008, p. 6. e-mail: [email protected] Justifying tiger farms – a step backward for tiger conservation? We refer to the correspondence on the use those from the wild2,6. This is contrary to tigers to be sold as legitimate trade of tiger farms for conservation by Xa- the proposal of gene-tagging by Xavier1. items2,6,7. The captive breeding of tigers vier1. There seems to be an over-simpli- Gene-tagging may work within a coun- for re-introduction into the wild or re- fication of several points raised about the try, whereby tiger farms are compliant serves formerly occupied by tigers is best management of tiger farms and other is- with strict regulations and enforcement is left to zoos with sound breeding pro- sues related to tiger conservation. In the strong. But if regulated international grammes, and not tiger farms or breeding following discussion, the terms ‘breeding trade is allowed and the tiger parts or centres where the provenance of the cap- centres’ and ‘tiger farms’ are used inter- products are shipped, there is no way for tive stock may be poorly recorded and changeably. independent verification of the legality not verified. The concept of ‘wise use of replenish- of the trade items. Besides, tiger parts are There is an adequate regulatory frame- able resources for the benefit of man- usually smuggled out via alternative work in most range states to protect ti- kind’ was mentioned by Xavier, but in routes to escape detection. Until there is gers, but law enforcement is woefully the case of tigers, resource-use patterns are a tight cooperative network between tiger inadequate2 and compliance is lacking. way past ‘wise use’ levels, to the extent of farms, tiger range states and CITES par- Hence, we agree with Xavier that there depleting them. A large-range contrac- ties sharing a constantly updated genetic should be stricter enforcement measures tion of tigers within the past decade2 and database and the development of an in- to check poaching, both within and out- the estimated 2500 or less breeding tigers expensive test kit, implementation of gene- side protected areas where tigers occur. in the wild would attest to this3. Promot- tagging as a regulating tool is not feasi- This would complement scientific long- ing tiger farms generates the dangerous ble. term population monitoring, sensible notion that the wild resource cannot be Breeding centres established for the land-use planning and swift human– depleted, but if there is an insatiable de- sake of breeding tigers for reintroduction wildlife conflict resolution in the toolbox mand and tiger farms cannot cope with without ‘commercial motives and methods’1 of tiger conservation8. India may be best the situation, the remaining wild tigers will would be a truly altruistic venture. Rais- placed to save this iconic cat given that it eventually succumb as well, possibly due ing a captive-bred tiger to adulthood is a probably has one of the largest tiger to the anthropogenic Allee Effect4. On a costly undertaking2. China’s tiger farms populations in the world9 and has taken related note, Clayton et al.5 have shown are not established for the purpose of some pro-active steps in tiger conserva- how the mere proposal of a captive pro- breeding tigers for re-introduction into tion8. But the proposal of initiating tiger gramme for the babirusa, an endangered the wild per se, but rather for tourism, farming in India by Xavier, seems suid, caused a spike in the capture and and the eventual (underlying) aim of counter-productive to those efforts. trade of wild-caught individuals. Simi- trade in tiger parts should the domestic larly, the set-up of several tiger breeding trade ban be lifted. In short, the skepti- 1.
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