Action needed urgently!

Exploding demography on Java Island is wiping out the last patches of nature used by Spizaetus bartelsi, an exclusive rainforest species that cannot survive in open country.

An estimate of less than 50 pairs only still live in the wild and, fortunately, most of them still breed. But their offspring, utterly short of suitable habitat and dramatically threatened by the spread of poultry diseases from bordering villages, is doomed to perish!

No place left for men and eagles!...

 

 

 

 

 

What to do?...

 

  1. Habitat protection and education are highly desirable measures; yet, a rapid forest recovery is unrealistic, and only a very limited, in-bred population can be expected to survive in the wild during the next decade.

  2. Active gene pool preservation from the last living offspring is a not less important measure that will allow to prevent critical in-breeding before the final, possibly accidental, collapse of the very fragile existing population.

The vicious circle...

 

Today, the only forthcoming for all these young branchers, disoriented birds normally wasted by nature[*], is to sooner or later die in inhospitable rice paddies. 

  • All young Raptors leaving the nest have to struggle for their own hunting and nesting territory out of their parents’ range. Normal figure in nature is 5% of successful individuals against 95% of fatalities...
Locating such vagrant birds during their hopeless search for food and roosting place is extremely difficult as a proper rescue network is unlikely to be developed in Indonesia in a near future. Of all these young eagles only a few are accidentally captured by villagers, to be eventually traded on local markets.

So far, these birds have been ignored, and wasted. Yet, they can be traced. And saved.
Releasing them back to the wild, where they are condemned to die, would of course be a useless crime. Their only chance is to be rescued and reach expert breeders.  
Nowadays, import being prohibited in the West, markets only supply unskilled local fanciers[*] and all these sensitive birds eventually starve in a matter of weeks by lack of proper cares.

  • Remembering persistently poor social-economic conditions in Indonesia, nobody should reasonably expect in-force regulation and prohibition system to put an end to this purely local trade.

 

The only possible break through...

 

A proper monitoring of traditional bird catchers can give a way to save priceless specimens for breeding and to preserve a representative gene pool. Besides, it is also a very effective way to encourage locals to the absolute necessity of protecting the last breeding pairs in the wild.
The ultimate goal is to release the offspring to the wild. However, whether and when this can be done cannot be foreseen now: general over-population in Central Java so dramatically threatens the rainforest itself that full priority must be given to a sound rescue operation and captive breeding in Indonesia to save the species before it is too late!

 

The BFRCC is reaching a triple goal:
  • education through information campaign and sound research
  • regional development through nature tourism and creation of new employment
  • conservation through its modern breeding program

A bright example of upright utilization of non-endangered, common Raptors being turned into a sound resource to develop a captive bred stock of other species now so dramatically threatened in the wild by human ignorance, habitat destruction and avian diseases!