A total of 778 houbara bustards (Chlamydotis undulata) have been released into the desert areas of the Nurota and Navbahor districts in the Navoi region of Uzbekistan, according to the regional Department of Ecology and Climate Change.
The birds were set free during an event organized by the State Institution “Department for Development of Eco-territories and Hunting” under the National Committee for Ecology and Climate Change, the Navoi Regional Department of Ecology and Climate Change, and the company Falcon Hunting Solutions LLC.
The houbara bustards were raised in a specialized nursery in the United Arab Emirates and brought to Uzbekistan with the assistance of the Dubai Emirate’s representative office in the country.
The project aims to increase the population of houbara bustards in their natural habitat and contribute to the preservation of the desert ecosystem. Experts note that such initiatives help boost the numbers of this rare bird species and maintain biodiversity in the desert.
Earlier, 672 houbara bustards were released in the Aral Sea region of Karakalpakstan. Those birds were bred at a specialized breeding center belonging to the representative office of UAE President and Abu Dhabi Ruler Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Kazakhstan.
The houbara bustard is listed in the Red Book of Uzbekistan, the IUCN Red List, and Appendix I of the CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
The breeding of these birds in Uzbekistan is primarily financed by the United Arab Emirates. In the Bukhara region, the Emirates Bird Breeding Center for Conservation operates, and since 2008, the Emirates Center for Conservation of Houbara has been active in the Navoi region.
According to the National Committee for Ecology, the houbara bustard primarily inhabits the Kyzylkum Desert in Uzbekistan, as well as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Transcaucasia, Egypt, West Asia, and Mongolia.
Source: www.gazeta.uz