China Environmental Law

For your Sunday reading, I direct you to this article regarding a family of crested ibises in Shanxi Province.  Here’s the happy mother (or father) and her (his) brood:

The Asian Crested Ibis (Nipponia Nippon, I doubt the Chinese frequently cite to this name) is Endangered.

In May 1981, Chinese scientists found the last seven wild crested ibises in the world in Shanxi Province. Since then, the Chinese government and international organizations have worked together to protect the species. The species’ population has increased from seven to over 1,000. 512 of those are in captivity, while the rest can be found on the southern slope of the Qinling mountain range in Shanxi Province.

The featured family

hatched recently in Ningshan County in northwest China’s Shanxi Province. The hatchlings mark a successful pilot attempt by Chinese researchers to return one of the world’s most endangered species to the wild, the Xinhua News Agency reported. Its parents were bred in captivity and returned to nature last May [see here].

[Li Xia and Liu Xiaojun, employees at a rewilding base for crested ibis in Ningshan County] said the parents of the birds built their nest on a large, pine tree in Zhujiazui Village in Ningshan County. When one bird flies out to find food, the other stays in to protect the nest. They alternate their jobs every hour. The hatchlings are healthy, and they will be able to fly in 20 to 30 days, Li Xia told Xinhua.

Of the 26 birds released last May

six returned to the rewilding base by themselves, while five died and three went missing. The other 12 adapted themselves to the wild, even surviving a severe snow storm last winter.

I hope I am lucky enough one day to see this bird in the wild.