Russia and the Great Bustard Reintroduction Project

Dr. J. Jill Heatley recently undertook the journey to southern Russia to provide assistance to the Great Bustard Reintroduction Project. The Great Bustard (Otis tarda) is one of the largest flighted birds in the world with a range that once extended from England to Asia. However this bird is now extirpated or endanger of extinction throughout most of its range. The last Great Bustard known on the Salisbury Plain of England, where the bird is a local icon, was shot in the early 1800s. Very little is known of great bustard reproduction, with few reports of reproduction reported in captivity. The great bustard reintroduction project, headed by David Waters of Salisbury, collects eggs from nests destroyed by agriculture in Russia, incubates and hatches the eggs and raises bustards until they can be shipped to England for reintroduction on a yearly basis. To date, this program has reintroduced a total of 123 bustards over 8 years and has had successful wild breeding documented for the last two years. Dr. Heatley contributed to the clinical aspects of the program by assisting John Chitty, MRCVS, in chick and egg necropsies of bustards as well as examining and microchipping birds for importation. She also added a clinical and ecotoxicological research component to the program by collecting samples for avian bornavirus testing and eggs shells for trace element analysis.

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