White-bellied Heron chick in its flight pen house. Picture taken on July 2, 2011 when it was 52 days old. Juy 7, 2011 – Today it […]

Donald J. Sterner and Debra Keiko Marlow of the San Diego Zoo Safari ParkJuly 7, 2011 - For more than 30 years, Donald J. Sterner and Debra Keiko Marlow of the San Diego Zoo Safari Park have worked around the world to help save endangered birds. With an estimated global population of only about 200, the critically endangered White-bellied Herons need a lot of help to survive.

Untitled document 37-days old White-bellied heron chick, hatched in captive. It weighed 1.9 kilograms. June 13, 2011 – It is now permanently moved into the flight […]

The World Environment Day (WED) 2011 was successfully celebrated in Paro among the dignitaries from the UN, Environmental organizations, Dzongkhag officials, teachers, students and hundreds of public.

The Chief Guest His Excellency Dasho Paljor J. Dorji, Advisor to the National Environment Commission remarked that under the dynamic leadership of His Majesty the Fourth King, Bhutan has been recognized as the “Champion of the earth” in environmental conservation and all Bhutanese have played their role in it and this spirit has to continue.

The first ever systematic land cover assessment in the country was done in 1995 by the Land Use & Planning Project (LUPP) of the Ministry with funds from Danida.

With the key objectives of bringing together people working in the wintering habitats of the Black Necked Cranes in Bhutan and other relevant stakeholders and to share experiences and status of the species conservation works in their respective areas, a one day workshop was organized by RSPN in Thimphu on May 30^th, 2011. Furthermore the workshop was also aimed to evolve a mechanism to regularly share information about status and conservation of species from their respective areas.

May 26, 2011 - The first steering committee meeting for the Community-Based Sustainable Project in Phobjikha was held on 18^th May 2011 at the Hotel Phuntsho Pelri in Thimphu. The project steering was established with representation from major stakeholder agencies which could significantly contribute to developing Phobjikha as a model community-based tourist destination.

Alternatives to mitigate Human Wildlife Conflict

Traditional watchtower to guard the crops

Consultative meetings with the stakeholders and communities of Passangphu and Madhuwa Tshowogs in Kangpara Gewog, Tashigang from 25^th April- 1^st May. The consultative meeting was a part of RSPN’s pilot initiative to reduce Human Wildlife Conflict (HWC) in the area. This two-year project, funded by UNDP and DANIDA, will focus on compensating the HWC affected farmers by institutionalising a community-based sustainable financial mechanism at the grassroots level. Interested households can register as a member of the scheme by contributing membership fee and premiums. The compensation will be partial and eligible only if the elected committee deem appropriate for compensation. In a socio-economic survey conducted

12-day old White-bellied heron chick (Photo: RSPN)

Update 19 May 2011 - The first White-belleid heron hatched in captive on May 2011 is 13-days old today. Today at 13 days old, it weighed 265.3 grams.

The officials at the hatchery site say they feed only three times a day. It takes whole fish, which is 6-7cm long.

Four-day old White-bellied heron chick, weighed 59.7 grams (Photo: RSPN)

May 11, 2011 - The White-bellied heron is a critically endangered species as per the IUCN’s category (2007). With the current global population estimated to be less than 200 of which Bhutan has 26 numbers, it is of a great conservation significance to Bhutan to embark on saving the bird.

The ongoing white-bellied heron conservation project is conducting a research on captive-breeding of the bird at Phochu in Punakha. To begin with, RSPN in collaboration with Department of Livestock and Department of Forests and Park Services under Ministry of Agriculture and Forests have undertaken a captive-rearing of the bird to address the high mortality rates at its infant period due to predation and other calamities such as forest fires.  Such program is first of its kind in the world for white-bellied heron.