Re-introduction of crested ibis on Sado Island, Japan

Summary

The crested ibis (Nipponia nippon) went extinct in the wild in Japan in 1981 when the last five birds were captured on Sado Island for captive breeding; that Japanese bloodline itself died out in 2003, so the program was rebuilt using birds imported from China from 1999, genetically confirmed nearly identical. Japan's Ministry of Environment began releasing captive-bred ibises on Sado Island in September 2008, with 107 birds reintroduced across seven releases through 2012 from a captive stock of roughly 200 held at six facilities. The local government simultaneously promoted organic, pesticide-reduced rice farming and installed fishways and paddy biotopes to restore the ibis's loach-and-invertebrate food supply, while environmental education addressed old farmer beliefs that the birds damaged rice shoots. An initial hard release in 2008 failed to establish pairs because females dispersed to the mainland; switching to soft release from 2009 improved site fidelity. Adult survival reached roughly 61% in the first year and about 80% annually thereafter, and by 2012 three nests fledged eight chicks, though reproductive success remained limited by hatching failure, marten and crow predation, and genetic diversity roughly half that of the Chinese source population, stemming from only five original founders. The project rates itself Successful, pointing to increasing site fidelity, strong adult survival, and confirmed wild breeding as evidence the population is becoming established.