(MY) Milky stork

[Guest guest]

Tuesday July 4, 2006 - The Star

 

Last colony of milky storks

 

By TAN CHENG LI

 

The Matang Forest Reserve in Perak is reputed to be one of the world's best

examples of sustainably managed mangrove forest.

 

That claim, however, may be dubious as a species it hosts, the milky stork,

is on the verge of extinction. Once abundant along the peninsula West Coast,

the waterbird is now confined to Matang and recent observations hint at a

population that may be as low as four birds.

 

Yes, milky storks are facing imminent extinction in the wild in Malaysia.

 

How did we allow them to reach such a dire state? It appears that

conservation measures taken so far have been too little, too late.

 

Wildlife Protection and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) cannot curb

human activities there since Matang is not a wildlife sanctuary but a timber

production forest reserve. Proposals for a wildlife reserve and a Ramsar

Site (wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention) have

for years, been ignored.

 

The Forestry Department did set aside no-logging zones but this was of

little help as tree-cutting and human activities persist in adjacent sites.

Deprived of the tall trees needed for nesting, the storks fail to multiply.

To worsen things, eagles, monkeys and monitor lizards prey on their chicks

and eggs.

 

No juvenile stork has been seen for over 20 years in Matang. The

conservation status of the species is so alarming that Perhilitan wants it

declared as " endangered " instead of just " vulnerable. "

 

*Safe refuge*

 

The last chance left for the species is re-introduction of captive-bred

birds. Zoo Negara has successfully bred them since 1987 and now has over 90

birds. If these birds are freed in Matang and start breeding, there is hope

yet for the species to repopulate the wild.

 

But this can work only in a secure habitat. Otherwise, the captive-bred

birds will suffer the same fate as their wild cousins, whose population had

plunged by 90% in the last 20 years due to shrinking mangroves and human

disturbance.

 

Hence, Perhilitan has repeated its call to the Forestry Department to

enlarge the " protected forest " cover in Matang by an extra 644ha – which is

not a lot considering that Matang sprawls over 40,466ha. The Forestry

Department had previously protected 1,883ha at Pulau Kelumpang and 103ha at

Pulau Terong, two islands where the storks feed and roost.

 

" For effective conservation of the milky stork, larger areas of undisturbed

mangroves are necessary to buffer the lakes found on the two islands, " says

David Li, waterbird conservation officer at Wetlands International.

 

" Even if the birds go extinct, we can reintroduce captive-bred birds. But

this is a wasted effort if the habitat is not secure, " adds Li, who had led

an 18-month study on conservation of milky storks jointly conducted with

Perhilitan and the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS).

 

The study repeated proposals for a wildlife reserve and Ramsar Site, as

these will give Perhilitan a say in managing the area.

 

Li asserts that conserving the site will benefit migratory birds which

winter in Matang. As the mangrove cover declines, so has fisheries

production and the population of these birds – by as much as 75% to 95% in

the past 10 to 17 years. Gulls and terns are the worst affected.

 

Perhilitan held a workshop in March to discuss the study findings, bringing

together experts in bird breeding and conservation. However, little has been

done since to implement the recommendations or pass them on to the relevant

ministry.

 

Its biodiversity conservation director Siti Hawa Yatim says Perak Perhilitan

has held informal talks with state foresters. A meeting might be called in

future.

 

She says a re-introduction programme will start in Matang early next year.

Initially, 10 captive-bred birds will be kept in an aviary at the Perhilitan

centre in Kuala Gula to be habituated to the new environment prior to

release. Perhilitan will also build tall perches for the birds to build

nests and will consider culling predators.

 

Siti Hawa says the re-introduction programme could not start any earlier as

it must follow IUCN (World Conservation Union) protocol. " Before releasing

captive-bred birds, we must first study and address the threats such as from

predators, water quality of the mudflats (as this will affect food supply)

and food sources. "

 

Although Zoo Negara can spare a few birds from its healthy flock of milky

storks, Perhilitan is not taking any chances to avoid a recurrence of two

past unplanned releases.

 

In 2003, 15 milky storks given to Taiping Zoo two years earlier took off and

were never seen again, all because of failure to keep their feathers

periodically clipped, which prevents long distance flight.

 

In another project in Kuala Selangor Nature Park by MNS, only four of the 10

birds received in 1998 survived. When funding ran out in 2003, the damaged

aviary was not repaired and the birds, left to escape. Seven storks were

later seen in nearby Jeram and Bagan Sungai Buloh but since 2004, sightings

have only been of four birds. With nearby coastal mangroves cleared for

prawn aquaculture, these birds face a survival battle. There is no close

watch to see how these storks are faring in the wild – a fact that has

angered some bird lovers.

 

At the March workshop, bird conservationists urged for more facilities for

captive breeding. Zoo Negara had previously donated milky storks to Penang

Bird Park, Kuala Lumpur Bird Park and Malacca Zoo. One chick was hatched in

the KL Bird Park last year. MNS wants to restart its project but it failed

to secure funding from car giant Honda, losing out to a rhino conservation

project proposed by World Wide Fund for Nature.

 

That is the sad story of milky storks and birds in general. " They often lose

out to the bigger animals like tigers, elephants and orang utans, " laments

Siti Hawa. Perhilitan itself failed to get funding for milky stork projects

in the Eighth Malaysia Plan (2001 to 2005). It finally did in the Ninth Plan

(2006 to 2010) and that made next year's re-introduction plan possible. Now

we can only hope that the project is not delayed. Otherwise milky storks

will be the sixth bird species to be extinct in the wild in Peninsular

Malaysia, joining the green peafowl, white-winged duck, white rump vulture,

long-billed vulture and gold-crested myna.

 

--\

--------------------------

 

Days are numbered for painted storks

 

OFTEN seen flying in " V " formation over the Klang Valley, Zoo Negara's

colony of painted storks offers an impressive aerial spectacle. But these

birds' free flying days may be numbered.

 

Zoo Negara is considering caging them. There is a valid reason for this: the

painted storks may scuttle plans to release captive-bred milky storks. If

both species mingle, they may inter-breed, thus threatening the gene pool of

the endangered milky stork.

 

Unlike milky storks, painted storks are not native to Malaysia. The over 300

birds in Zoo Negara grew from a small flock brought in from Sri Lanka in the

1960s. Being dependent on freshwater, they survive better than the coastal

mangrove-dependent milky storks and thus, have multiplied in numbers.

 

In Zoo Negara, only the milky storks are kept in an enclosure. The painted

storks fly all over the Klang Valley but return to roost in the zoo in the

evening.

 

" If they spread, where are we going to put our own bird, the milky storks?

Only after we have confined the painted storks can we release the milky

storks, " says Zoo Negara director Dr Mohamad Ngah. He has proposed sharing

the painted storks with zoos abroad and then caging the rest.

 

At least one hybrid stork has been reported at Zoo Negara. The bird, which

looks like a cross between the two species, is believed to result from a

1993 incident when some milky storks escaped from their storm-damaged

enclosure and joined the flock of painted storks. Some escapees were caught

only a year later and by then, could have mated with the painted storks.

 

Hybridisation is believed to have also occurred at Singapore Zoo and Dusit

Zoo in Bangkok, Thailand.

 

Universiti Putra Malaysia is now studying the DNA profile of both species,

which can be used later on to determine cases of hybridisation.

 

--\

-------------------------

 

Plunging numbers

 

FOUND only in South-East Asia, milky storks (*Mycteria cinerea) *now number

around 5,550 (both wild and captive birds), mainly concentrated in Indonesia

(5,400), Malaysia (100) and Cambodia (50). They are believed to be locally

extinct in Thailand and Vietnam.

 

In the 1980s, there were between 100 and 150 birds in Matang Forest Reserve

but the numbers plunged over the 1990s. By 2004, the highest count was of 10

birds and in 2005, eight. This year, only four storks have been seen.