UK zoo species reintroduced back into their native habitats
- Thread starter TriDV
- Start date
Chough releases.
The other UK collection involved with Choughs is/was Paradise Park, a bird garden in Cornwall. They have bred many Choughs since they started their 'Operation Chough' aimed at putting the birds back into the County, but were able to undertake only one trial release- of six birds which all subsequently disappeared- before being vetoed by Gov't agencies from doing anymore, mainly because wild(?)* birds recolonised Cornwall at around the same time in 2000/1. Although thwarted with their own release scheme PP have been able to supply birds for Jersey for their similar scheme which I believe is due to come to fruition this year(?)(RickJ?) Presumably Jersey are able to operate under their own laws for such a release.
* Although popularly regarded as 'wild' colonists, I do wonder about the source of the current wild Choughs in Cornwall since DNA has recently indicated they are from Irish stock. Why then, if travelling all the long distance from Ireland, in itself a very unusual occurrence for what is normally a sedentary species anyway, should they overfly suitable habitat in the rest of Cornwall before settling instead on the furthest tip at the Lizard? Could it have been a deliberate release 'on the quiet'? It has certainly proved very successful wherever the birds came from.
Red squirrels. I think a few private breeders have also been involved with these too.
Red Kite- I believe the founders of the current massive Chiltern population came as fledglings taken from nests in another part of Europe, and that nowhere(?) in the UK contributed to the releases, though not 100% sure. I am not sure if anywhere in the Uk breed Red Kites.
The other UK collection involved with Choughs is/was Paradise Park, a bird garden in Cornwall. They have bred many Choughs since they started their 'Operation Chough' aimed at putting the birds back into the County, but were able to undertake only one trial release- of six birds which all subsequently disappeared- before being vetoed by Gov't agencies from doing anymore, mainly because wild(?)* birds recolonised Cornwall at around the same time in 2000/1. Although thwarted with their own release scheme PP have been able to supply birds for Jersey for their similar scheme which I believe is due to come to fruition this year(?)(RickJ?) Presumably Jersey are able to operate under their own laws for such a release.
* Although popularly regarded as 'wild' colonists, I do wonder about the source of the current wild Choughs in Cornwall since DNA has recently indicated they are from Irish stock. Why then, if travelling all the long distance from Ireland, in itself a very unusual occurrence for what is normally a sedentary species anyway, should they overfly suitable habitat in the rest of Cornwall before settling instead on the furthest tip at the Lizard? Could it have been a deliberate release 'on the quiet'? It has certainly proved very successful wherever the birds came from.
Red squirrels. I think a few private breeders have also been involved with these too.
Red Kite- I believe the founders of the current massive Chiltern population came as fledglings taken from nests in another part of Europe, and that nowhere(?) in the UK contributed to the releases, though not 100% sure. I am not sure if anywhere in the Uk breed Red Kites.
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Trial release will indeed start this year.
Funnily enough, that is exactly my thinking on the matter. I would not be surprised if a few such cases have gone entirely unnoticed in the past, too.
CambsVet
Well-Known Member
I've always wondered where the Beavers in the River Tay(?) came from.... surely someone must have noticed that they had lost several large brown rodents?
I've always wondered where the Beavers in the River Tay(?) came from.... surely someone must have noticed that they had lost several large brown rodents?
That population is large enough, and with sufficient genetic diversity, that it suggests not just a handful of illegal reintroductions, but a comprehensive and carefully planned operation.
Many years ago now(1970's) Newquay Zoo had a large purpose-built aviary in which were exhibited a large group of about eleven Choughs. Rumour is that they too were caught in Ireland 'unofficially' and transported over to England.
Rumour also has it that until 1973 when it died, the very last original Cornish Chough would sometimes leave his coastal haunts just North of Newquay and attracted by their calls, come and sit atop this Aviary of captive Choughs. If they had let a few of them join that old bird, they might have recolonised decades earlier.
As far as I know, they have never been acknowledged as an official population, rather being classed as an occasional vagrant and former breeder, but I've seen chough quite a few times in the Lake District, so I would not be surprised if:
a) someone has tried reintroducing them there illicitly
b) they are becoming more common as vagrants, possibly a sign they are beginning to recolonise naturally
or
c) they have already recolonised, but the population is tenuous enough that it is being kept a secret.
If a) is the case, it might well be the same people responsible for the Cornish ones.
a) someone has tried reintroducing them there illicitly
b) they are becoming more common as vagrants, possibly a sign they are beginning to recolonise naturally
or
c) they have already recolonised, but the population is tenuous enough that it is being kept a secret.
If a) is the case, it might well be the same people responsible for the Cornish ones.
The nearest population to the Lake District is on the Isle of Man, so that could possibly be natural colonisation. Or 'helped'?
There have been a number of vagrants reported in the South West in recent years e.g. on Lundy Island and the Scillies. A few years back five Choughs appeared at Brean Down in Somerset- coloured ring ID's indicated they were from the South Wales/Gower peninsula population and they quickly disappeared again, evidently returning to South Wales. Its only a short hop from the nearest place they are found in S.Wales (near Porthcawl) to Somerset yet this was a rare event (the first county record for 100 years+) which is why I am suspicious about such sedentary birds suddenly 'migrating' all the way from Ireland to the southernmost tip of Cornwall.
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Some more species from which I don't know if there were any UK-collections participating in re-introduction programms :
Hawaiian goose ( or Nene )
Griffon vulture
Bearded vulture ( or Lammergeier )
Hawaiian goose ( or Nene )
Griffon vulture
Bearded vulture ( or Lammergeier )
Slimbridge (Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust) pioneered ex situ breeding of the nene and supplied over 200 birds for reintroduction.
I don't know of any work with the vultures.
Alan