How I missed this thread is beyond me (storks are the BEST!!!) but I had no idea Yellow-Billed's were only in so few zoos. I thought more AZA accredited zoos had them and were using them as a substitute for showcasing the Mycteria since the Painted Stork SSP is barely making any progress.
I believe Lowry Park got rid of their Saddlebills. Last time I visited in Jan 2017 they were not in the Ituri Forest aviary.
Is any zoo planning on working with Milky Storks or Greater Adjutants in the future? Given Zoo Negara's
good program on captive breeding on the Milky's it'd be a great partnership for the AZA and them to help raise awareness and bolster the population. Also they seem to have tons of Painted Storks that wander the grounds. Perhaps Negara could send about 20 new birds to the US to help with the SSP? I would love to visit Audubon's SSC to see the Milky's that they have.
For Greater Adjutants I would suggest the AZA teaming up with
Aaranyak of Assam India. They have
Purnima Devi Barman who was the recipient of a Whitley Award last year on her behalf of forming the Hargila Army aimed at promoting and protecting the Greater Adjutant through community based efforts in Assam. I'm a HUGE FAN of hers! An added group could be the Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity which has
had great success in breeding Lesser Adjutants and Bronx, Racine wouldn't be the only ones with them.
Now I can rant on and on about storks, but I think I 'll leave it at that!
