Uzbekistan’s houbara releases serve hunting, not conservation, expert says
There’s no conservation motive or benefit behind the Uzbekistan government’s recent releases of more than 2,000 captive-bred Asian houbara bustards across its desert regions, according to an expert on the threatened species. The government has touted the releases over the past three months as a wildlife restoration effort, but Nigel Collar, a conservation biologist at […]
The Uzbekistan government's recent releases of over 2,000 captive-bred Asian houbara bustards in desert regions have been dismissed as serving hunting purposes rather than conservation, according to a conservation biologist. Nigel Collar, a BirdLife International expert and co-chair of the Bustard Specialist Group at the IUCN, stated that the releases are intended to provide hunting opportunities for Gulf State falconers.
The houbara bustard, listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, migrates between Central and South Asia and the Middle East and is intensively hunted across its range. Uzbekistan released nearly 900 birds in the Aral Sea region of Karakalpakstan in May, followed by 670 birds in June, but no response has been received from the involved parties regarding Mongabay's queries.
Written by urgent.news from Mongabay's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
