Saving India's Rarest Bird Needs More Than Just Ceremonies

Two male Great Indian Bustards joined the wild at the Desert National Park in Jaisalmer during an official event attended by the Union and the Rajasthan Environment Ministers. ## Breeding And Numbers The conservation project now includes ninety-seven birds, while nine more wait to be set free. Fifty-seven of these are born in captivity, yielding twenty-nine chicks this year and twenty-four last year. These figures matter for a bird whose total wild count sits near one hundred and twenty after facing the threat of extinction for almost fifty years. ## Past And Present Threats Expert Salim Ali once proposed the bird as India's national bird to secure safety, but the Indian Board for Wildlife picked the peacock instead. The population fell from roughly twelve hundred in 1969 down to six hundred by 2000, and further dropped to between one hundred and forty and one hundred and seventy-five in Rajasthan during the twenty-tens. Past royal hunters shot the species until the late seventies. Later, farming growth turned old grasslands into pesticide-heavy fields and roads, making the animals more at risk. Overhead power cables pose the newest danger because the heavy birds fly at cable height and have poor sight. The Supreme Court initially told authorities in twenty-twenty-one to place low-voltage wires underground in key zones. Following pushback from solar firms over financial costs, the Court changed the rule to cover only lines inside critical habitats. ## Broader Policy Flaws While marketing efforts celebrate the bird locally known as Godawan, many other species receive no such help. Close to twelve hundred and fifty-six bird types face threats globally, making up eleven and a half percent of the world total. Skylark counts dropped by nearly eighty percent and Indian rollers fell by thirty percent over twelve years. Current protection rules rely too much on symbols, similar to moving tigers, bringing African cheetahs, or keeping Gir lions confined. Experts warn that building fenced reserves creates problems when animals spill out into farms, proving that broad landscapes must form the basis of protection instead of single species. ## Context The Great Indian Bustard is one of the world's heaviest flying birds, relying heavily on open native grasslands to survive and breed. Protecting such species usually requires balancing local energy infrastructure needs with the preservation of natural habitats.