A houbara bustard bred in the🐎 United Arab Emirates has been rescued in Maharashtra's coastal Sindhudurg district, officials said on Saturday.
The bird is in good health and it would be released in the deserts of Rajasthan or Gujarat, the winte♛r habitat of these birds, 𝔉they said.
"A farmer at Mundage village in Devgad tehsil spotted an exotic-looking bird with a ring on its leg on Thursday evening and alerted forest officials. We went there and took it in our custody," said Rajendra Ghunak✤ika൩r, local Range Forest Officer.
The bird is currently kept at a facility at Kankavali in the district and is in fine he🦂alth, he added.
Sujit Narawade, assistant di�ඣ�rector and coordinator at Bombay Natural History Society and project coordinator, Conservation of Great Indian Bustard and Lesser Florican, said some institutes in the UAE breed these birds in captivity and release them in large numbers as part of conservation efforts.
"These birds generally migrate to the Thar and Kutch dese🅰rts every winter from the Middle East. Sometimes a bird or two stray from the flock and fly to the coastal region of Konkan," he said.
"The houbara bustard found in Sindhudurg had a ring and color band which provided information about its origin. When we contacted the National Avian Resource Centre in Abu Dhabi, they confirmed that the bird was from a flock releas𓄧ed by them," Na🍃rawade said.
They also advised that it should be released 🐽in 🔜the desert region of Gujarat or Rajasthan, he said.
Deputy Cons🐲ervator of Forests S Navakishore Reddy told PTI that they were in talks with forest officials in the two states and will soon decide where it should be released.
(Inputs from PTI)
