Great Indian Bustard Rewilding Begins at Desert National Park

India's effort to save the Great Indian Bustard (GIB) has moved from breeding the bird behind wire to putting it back on the open desert. In October 2026 four captive-reared males walked free inside Desert National Park, close to Sam in the Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan. They are the first of 10 birds picked for release from the two conservation-breeding centres at Sam and Ramdevra, and the step turns a decade of captive breeding into an attempt to rebuild the wild flock.

Why the bird needed rescuing

The GIB is listed as Critically Endangered, a step away from extinction in the wild. The annual progress report of the Wildlife Institute of India for 2016-17 put the fall in its numbers at 75 per cent across the previous 30 years. The bird once ranged over the western half of the country. Grassland lost to other uses and pressure from people did most of the damage, and the species breeds too slowly to repair that loss on its own. Building a captive flock was the answer chosen to buy the bird time.

The breeding programme in figures

Sanctioned in 2016 with an outlay of Rs 33.85 crore for five years, the programme set up the centres at Sam and Ramdevra, secured part of the founder stock, began captive breeding and ran surveys and telemetry to guide repair of the habitat. The first chick bred in captivity hatched at the Sam centre in March 2023. In December 2024 National CAMPA cleared Rs 77.05 crore for a five-year Conservation Action Plan covering the GIB and the Lesser Florican, paying for population surveys, artificial insemination, habitat work, protection from predators, community participation and tracking of wild birds.

The Jumpstart Approach

In Kutch, Gujarat, only three female bustards were left in the wild and no male survived to fertilise an egg. A viable egg from the Sam centre was therefore carried 770 km to Naliya in a portable incubator, a trip of more than 19 hours, and slipped into the nest of a wild female. She accepted it, finished the incubation, and the chick came out four days later; field staff afterwards watched the foster mother raise it in its own habitat. This Jumpstart Approach has so far given six chicks in Rajasthan and two in Gujarat.

Preparing birds for the desert

A dedicated Rewilding Aviary at Ramdevra trains the birds before they leave. The pillar-less hall runs 160 metres long and 64 metres wide and stands 14 metres tall, clear air enough for a bustard to build flight muscle and behave as it would outside. About 200 square kilometres of fenced grassland inside Desert National Park, marked by long-term telemetry work as prime breeding ground, waits for the released birds. A soft-release facility lets chosen birds settle before the gate opens, and people were kept away from the release site so the birds were not disturbed. Gujarat has a matching GIB Soft Release Centre near Naliya.