white fox Posted August 7, 2004 Report Share Posted August 7, 2004 Last Monday was busy in Wiltshire, we took delivery of 550 pheasant poults and got them settled in their pens. Down on Salisbury Plain after a lapse of 170 years, 28 Great Bustard chicks arrived in their new pen, their journey being some 36 hours from Russian Steppes. Two chicks died on route and one more succumbed during the first night in the pen. They have no contact with humans, any contact is made with strange non human form disguises and glove puppet resembling a hen Bustard. They are to be introduced to a tame fox, if they don't show any natural fear then they will be squirted with a water pistol. They will stay in the pen for 28 days, then transferred to the release pen. The Great Bustard was shot to extinction in UK around 1830, they are the largest flying birds in the world weighing in at more than 20kg (44lb) Dave Waters ex-Wilts copper who has managed this project quoted Churchill upon the arrival of the chicks "end of the beginning" for the dream of reintroducing a species that was hunted to extinction in the early 19th century Lets truly hope this is a success for all concerned Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimdfish Posted August 9, 2004 Report Share Posted August 9, 2004 Farming and hunting killed British Bustards in 1830s They stand to the height of an adult Roe Deer They can be more than a metre long and upwards of 15kg About 40,000 Bustards are in Spain, Portugal, central Europe, Russia and central Asia Their alarm call is a short, nasal sound similar to a bark The size of a roe dear, dear God jimDfish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aled_cky Posted August 9, 2004 Report Share Posted August 9, 2004 is it like the ostrich but can fly? but they are very heavy. good luck trying to rear them, it is always nice to see a big bird around, i.e. Crane/Heron which we dont have very many of down here. also. looked on images on google and came up with these. http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=Great+...&ie=UTF-8&hl=en a very nice looking bird. Aled Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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