What is it about?
Asian Houbara are declining due to unregulated hunting and trade, while captive-breeding is used at increasingly large scales in an attempt to reinforce and support wild populations. But what does the scientific evidence say about the role of captive breeding and release in preventing their continuing decline? By monitoring the survival rates of released captive-bred Asian Houbara we found that: to supply one captive bird as quarry for the hunt, 1.7 birds would need to be released. After October, 18 % of birds survived through the migration period to return the following year, giving an overall of survival year from release until the following spring of 11%. Taking into account this first year of post-release survival and an additional year of adult survival to reach breeding age, we estimated that to compensate for the loss of one wild breeder, 12.9 birds would have to be released – neither practicable nor cost-effective. Therefore, captive breeding may be more useful to provide falconers with huntable quarry rather than to reinforce wild populations
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Why is it important?
The threatened Asian Houbara faces an uncertain future unless legitimate hunting is regulated to a sustainable level and hunt-related poaching on the winter areas is limited.
Perspectives
This work was a collaboration by a team of field ornithologists, led by the University of East Anglia, in partnership with the Emirates Bird Breeding Centre for Conservation and BirdLife International. You can see more about the Sustainable Houbara Management programme at: https://www.sustainablehoubaramanagement.org or follow us on Facebook or Twitter: @SustainHoubara
Professor Paul M Dolman
University of East Anglia
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Survival rates of captive-bred Asian HoubaraChlamydotis macqueeniiin a hunted migratory population, Ibis, March 2016, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/ibi.12349.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Sustainable Houbara Management website
Website of the Sustainable Houbara Management Programme, a collaboration between the Emirates Bird Breeding Centre for Conservation, BirdLife International and University of East Anglia
Captive breeding cannot sustain migratory Asian houbara Chlamydotis macqueenii without hunting controls.
Related paper, that uses a demographic model of Asian Houbara (parameterised by satellite telemetry and extensive fieldwork) to examine the potential contribution of captive breeding to conservation. This shows that captive breeding cannot substitute for the regulation of hunting and control of poaching.
Contributors
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