9 Great Indian Bustard chicks were moved from Jaisalmer to safety in night op amid Pakistani shelling
Sam is 40 km from the India-Pakistan border, and Ramdevra is 225 km away.
Initially housed in Jaisalmer's Ramdevra Great Indian Bustard Conservation Centre, and Sam Conservation and Breeding Centre, both close to the India-Pakistan border which had come under gunfire and artillery shelling, the Great Indian Bustard chicks had to be evacuated. The birds—categorised as critically endangered—took a long journey to Ajmer, where they are now ensconed in an entirely different centre.
New Delhi: Nine newborn Great Indian Bustard chicks aged five to 28 days were among those who bore the brunt of the India-Pakistan standoff.
The nine birds travelled 10 hours, covering over 200 km from their birth centres in Jaisalmer to the Ajmer centre in Arwar village. The Ajmer centre houses lesser Floricans, another critically endangered bird and the smallest in the bustard family.
The transfer currently remains an 'interim measure' but also opens up the possibility of a satellite centre away from Jaisalmer, serving as a potential home for the captively bred Great Indian Bustards.
'Arwar is a bigger centre than Sam, and additional infrastructure is under construction. Activities in Arwar are also similar [to what happens in Ramdevra and Sam],' said Sutirtha Dutta, a Wildlife Institute of India (WII) senior scientist, who helms the bustard conservation programme. 'We are also building an additional cage, which will be ready in the next one to two months.'
The cages being developed are the same model as the ones existing in the other centres, except bigger, and the additional cage would accommodate 20 birds.
Meanwhile, Ramdevra is also upping the ante by building two new cages.
There are currently 64 captively bred Great Indian Bustards. A collaboration between the WII and the Rajasthan forest department, their conservation programme has been hailed as a success.
Ramdevra houses 28 birds, Sam 24, and now, Arwar nine.
No final decision on the transfer of Arwar's nascent Great Indian Bustard population has, so far, been made. 'Discussions are still ongoing. We haven't had any discussion on Ajmer as a third centre,' said Rajasthan Deputy Conservator of Forests Brijmohan Gupta.
However, Dutta said that 'for Great Indian Bustards of this size, as well as the lesser Floricans, the infrastructure needed is nearly the same'. He added that the India-Pakistan escalations, which made the conservation programme 'vulnerable', called for a 'spur of the moment decision'.
In the event of a 'calamity' at Sam, more birds could have been transferred. The Great Indian Bustards that moved reflect a genetically diverse stock, including those born by artificial insemination.
A over-200 km journey
Of the nine birds moved to the Arwar centre, four are from Sam and five from Ramdevra. Carried in AC vehicles on soft-suspension foam beds, the birds, accompanied by technicians, were moved on 10 May at night.
Transfers are regular between Ramdevra and Sam. Transportation, therefore, did not become as big an issue as it could have been.
According to Dutta, Great Indian Bustards can be transported easily when they are young till they reach three-four months of age.
However, the journey to Alwar was far longer than the travel time GIBs are accustomed to.
According to conservation biologist Sumit Dookia, who has been instrumental in turning the local population of Jaisalmer into Great Indian Bustard stakeholders, the move was in the pipeline. However, the India-Pakistan conflict hastened the process.
'Over the last two to three years, efforts have been made to build a centre away from Jaisalmer,' he said. 'The current escalatory situation was used to convince local people that this was a move to save the Great Indian Bustard from the upcoming situation.'
The locals were reluctant about the transfer since they have forged a deep bond with the Great Indian Bustards, and tending to the wild birds is now a part of Jaislamer's culture.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
Also Read: Frantic car ride to hunkering in hotel basement, how my father's advice got me through Poonch shelling
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