GREAT INDIAN BUSTARD (GIB)- CAPTIVE BREEDING PROGRAMME

NEWS: Project Great Indian Bustard (GIB) Captive Breeding Programme has entered its fourth year with the hatching of two new chicks at the Conservation Breeding Centre in Rajasthan

ABOUT

• The captive breeding initiativeà Critical insurance policy against the extinction of the GIB
• Managed through a partnership between the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC)+ Rajasthan Forest Department+ the Wildlife Institute of India (WII).
• Launchedà by the Rajasthan government in 2013, while the dedicated conservation breeding facilities became fully operational around 2019–2022.
• Aimà To build a self-sustaining captive population of GIBs and eventually reintroduce them into the wild to bolster their dwindling numbers.

Key Features:

• Utilizes both natural mating and advanced techniques like artificial insemination.
• Combines habitat protection (In-situ) with breeding in controlled environments (Ex-situ).
• This year marks a shift toward soft releasing captive-bred birds—a process where birds are gradually acclimated to the wild in protected enclosures before full release.
• Receives technical support from the International Fund for Houbara Conservation (Abu Dhabi).

The Great Indian Bustard

• One of the heaviest flying birds in the world and serves as an umbrella species
• IUCN Red List: Critically Endangered (one step away from extinction in the wild).
• Wildlife Protection Act (1972): Schedule I (highest level of legal protection).
• CITES: Appendix I