Endangered Bald Ibises from French Zoo to Be Released in Spain

The birds with black plumage, red head and long beak, have been present at the Besançon zoo since 1998. They have been breeding in the zoological garden since the year 2000 and among the 14 young born in the last two years, "8 will be reintroduced into the wild" in 2021, specifies the city of Besançon in a press release, adding that young bald ibises born at the Mulhouse zoo and the Gaïa zoo (Netherlands) will also be reintroduced at the same time as the specimens from Besançon.

The Jerez zoo (Andalusia) team will welcome the ibises, before they are acclimatized in a large aviary for a month. At the end of February, the aviary will be opened, the ibises will be able to deliberately go out, and they will then be fed nearby by the zoo staff. "During this adaptation period, these ibises from zoos will meet wild ibises, their learning of survival in the natural environment will begin," the municipality specifies. "Little by little, according to their adaptation abilities, our released ibises will disperse and establish their colonies in suitable places".

The bald ibis, originally present around the Mediterranean, has suffered a heavy decline due to human pressure and the degradation of meadows. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies the animal in the "critically endangered" category.

Its reintroduction in Andalusia, when it only survived in Morocco at the end of the 20th century, is part of the European breeding program Eremita, launched in 2003 by the Ministry of the Environment of the province of Andalusia, the same source continues, stressing that the objective is to "create and establish a new colony of bald ibises from the birds born in European zoos".