INTRODUCTION

Viet Nature, WPA and EAZA are committed to securing the future for a wild population of the Vietnam Pheasant through ex-situ breeding and translocation techniques. This will be accompanied by a recovery plan to include feasibility studies, monitoring, tracking released birds and habitat protection in Khe Nuoc Trong Reserve. We act on sound ethical solutions which consider human needs, empowering local people to take action in the conservation of their own environment.

History:

 Vietnature is a conservation NGO in Vietnam which evolved from many years’ involvement with Birdlife International. It has carried out numerous field surveys for the edwardsii, including the use of hundreds of camera traps. Many other extremely rare Keeper on a long-term Action Plan to return edwardsii to the wild. A large area of good lowland rainforest (768 hectares) has been leased for the next 30 years in the Khe Nouc Trong Nature Reserve, a former site for the species. In addition, the first breeding Station site has been allocated in Le Thuy District of Quang Binh Province and aviary plans have been proposed by WPA and EAZA. The breeding station is located within easy reach of Vietnature’s Field Office, where additional pheasant breeding aviaries have been constructed.

The Vietnam Pheasant is a Critically Endangered bird endemic to Vietnam. It has not been seen in the wild in the last 16 years, and is feared to have gone extinct. Its natural habitat has been much disturbed or destroyed during prolonged wars and then, in the last four decades, by development pressures. What we have in hand now is a relatively old and highly in-bred captive population of about 1,000 individuals mainly kept in the zoos and private breeders.  We, Vietnamese conservationists and international partners, do not want the species to die out in captivity! We are protecting its remaining suitable habitats in Vietnam, searching for any remaining wild population, and pooling resources to establish a conservation breeding centre in its historical distribution range.