Four pairs of hill mynas — a mimic avian species — caged for 4-5 years for captive breeding in the Forest School established by the Chhattisgarh government at Jagdalpur in Bastar district, are set to be released in the wild in June as they refused to mate, dealing a severe jolt to conservation of the rare bird.
“Our decades-long efforts for captive breeding of the hill mynas to save the species from extinction have yielded no result so far. Eight birds of the species (gracula religiosa linnacus), kept in the Centre for the purpose for the past 4-5 years, have refused to mate. We have finally decided to release them in the wild after the current breeding season (March-May) for the species ends,” conservator of forest of Bastar division Rama Rao said on Friday.
According to him, hardly around 150 hill mynas have now been left in Kanger Valley National Park, which houses the major population of the species.
Besides the park, the birds have also been sighted in the Dantewada, Bijapur and Narayanpur districts in Bastar region in Chhattisgarh. The late ornithologist Salim Ali, in his book The Book of Indian Birds, had also raised apprehensions that the Bastar hill mynas were on the verge of extinction.
The mynas are facing the threat to their existence due to their largescale killing and capturing by bahelias (local bird catchers). The birds are in great demand in domestic and international markets for its gifted ability to mimic human voices.
They can be taught to speak in 15 different national and international languages. There has been massive trafficking of hill mynas to South Arabia in the past three decades.