Back to the wild

Subhash Rajta

At first glance, this particularly steep hillock in the middle of nowhere will not catch your eye. Grassy and somewhat rocky too, and largely bereft of tree cover, it appears unremarkable, even on the second look. Despite the apparent ordinariness, there’s something very special about it – it’s the site of an ambitious project of the wildlife wing of Himachal Pradesh. In October last year, the department reintroduced bred-in-captivity Cheer Pheasants into the wild at this spot to augment the declining population of this endangered bird. Not only is it the first attempt of its kind in India, but also it could well become the first-ever successful experiment the world over.

Already, the HP wildlife wing is considering the experiment a success. “Out of the 18 birds released past October — six adults and 12 young ones — 11 are still surviving,” informs Dr Savita, Chief Wildlife Warden, Himachal Pradesh.

“As per international standards, even if 20 per cent survive for at least a year, the experiment is deemed successful. And in our case, the survival rate so far has been roughly 60 per cent,” she says, barely able to control her excitement.

Her enthusiasm and optimism is understandable. The birds have been in the wild for eight months now, still four months short of the critical one year period. But having survived the initial months after release and the harsh winters, survival now should relatively be a walk in the park for these birds. And if the birds manage to breed and intermingle with the wild population, that would be an icing on the cake. “That would be a grand success,” says Dr Savita. The birds are already into the breeding season, but there’s no evidence yet of any breeding. “Unless we see the visuals of newborns with our adult birds in camera traps, we can’t say anything with certainty,” says Samakshi Tiwari, a research assistant, who has been tracking the progress of the birds at the site ever since their release.

Long, arduous process

Reintroduction of any species into the wild requires painstaking efforts, and this experiment is no exception. The first step of the experiment, now so close to being successful, was taken about a decade back, with the establishment of a conservation breeding facility in Chail, about 50km from Shimla. Once the facility had enough healthy and behaviourally competent progenies who could survive in the wild, the next step was their pairing, which again required a lot of diligence. “Before the pairing, the demographic and genetic analysis was carried out to rule out inbreeding,” says Dr Savita. “Besides, they were regularly screened for diseases and infections prior to the release.” Even one diseased or infected bird could contaminate the entire population in the habitat, hence the utmost caution.

Eventually, three pairs and their 12 chicks were chosen for a flight into the wild. The site chosen for their release was an unremarkable hillock in village Seri, not too far away from Chail. Throwing them straight into the deep end could have proved catastrophic, so soft-release was planned. For a month, the birds were kept in three enclosed pens at the release site to prepare them for the life out in the open. “Each pen mirrored their habitat with perches and bushes inside. Efforts were made to help them identify predators and rely on food available out there,” says DFO Rajesh Sharma.

Out in the open

A little over a month later, when it was felt the birds had learnt the ways of the jungle, they were allowed to move out to live the life they were actually supposed to. The adults were tagged with radio collars so their movement could be tracked. Unfortunately, a few birds succumbed in the pen while being trained for the life out in the open. Others, however, seem to have adapted well to the new surroundings — having survived for eight months in the midst of predators like raptors and foxes bears that out.

“One bird has crossed over to the other side of the valley. It seems settled, so chances are it has found a partner among the wild birds,” says Tiwari. Another good sign for the experiment!

For the experiment to have gone so well so far, local people, too, deserve credit. “They gave land to set up pens for soft release, do not send their cattle for grazing into the birds’ habitat and help in ensuring the birds are not hunted,” says Sanjeev Kumar, a part of the three-member team monitoring the birds at the site. In another four months, the village and the not-so-appealing hillock could become a prominent place on the wildlife map.

Know cheer pheasant

It is a medium-sized bird, with male weighing 1250g-1800g and female 900g-1350g.

A threatened species, the total population is estimated at 2,000-2,700 adults. The bird is found in India, Pakistan and Nepal.

It prefers a habitat marked by tall grass, shrubs and stunted trees, at an altitude of 1500-3000m.

The bird feeds on roots, tubers, berries and insects.