Ornithologists from the Belgian non-profit Cracid Breeding and Conservation Centre (CBCC) recently announced the successful reintroduction of the red-billed Curassow in South America: a project that effectively saved the species from extinction.
"When we started the project, the birds were down to some 10 to 20 specimens in nature. We got permission to catch some of them to breed, and the project was very successful," CBCC President Geer Scheres told The Brussels Times.
Bird experts in both Belgium and South America had been hoping for these results for a long time, and the project lies at the heart of the CBCC's mission and its sister organisations, founded in Peru and Brazil.
Restoring an almost extinct population
The story began when Scheres wrote an article for a German avicultural magazine. After its publication, the magazine article made its way to German-Brazilian ornithologist Dr. Helmut Sick, who had been in Brazil since the 1930s to study the red-billed Curassow.
His findings were bleak: he found that the bird was on the brink of extinction. After reading Scheres' article, he sent him a letter in 1988 asking for help in reviving the red-billed Curassow population.
Scheres, along with other ornithologists, founded the CBCC and became the first to fund the red-billed Curassow project in Brazil. They partnered with Crax Brasil in Belo Horizonte (led by Roberto Azeredo and founded by the CBCC), where the breeding centre was built so that Brazilian ornithologists could breed the birds locally, using privately owned rainforest land made available by a company called Cenibra.
The CBCC in Zutendaal (Limburg province), meanwhile, continued to serve as a training, conservation and study centre while collaborating with international organisations and creating more breeding centres in South America.
"You can imagine how much effort, time and money is needed to restore a population of endangered, almost extinct birds. Our strength is we never give up, and we protect life," Scheres said proudly.
Red-billed Curassows at the breeding centre in Brazil. Credit: Geer Scheres
The red-billed Curassows caught in the late 1980s were bred for several generations starting in 1992, and then 400 of them were re-introduced into five different nature reserves in the Atlantic rainforest. Since this reintroduction, scientists have observed the birth of more than 300 chicks – a clear indicator that the species is doing well. For now, the red-billed Curassow has been saved.
The CBCC has also played a vital role in saving other bird species, including the Alagoas Curassow and the White-winged Gouan. Their reintroduction techniques have even been adopted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
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This year, the CBCC, Crax Brasil and Cenibra celebrate over 30 years of working together to save endangered bird species in South America.
"We will continue to work together on the breeding and conservation of endangered bird species, even when there is almost no hope," Scheres concludes.
