Milky Stork Release Programme-for comment and what's next before they are extinct

Three out of five birds released at Kuala Gula. The birds in school compound and still need guardian from Perhilitan's staff (Picture by Zana Biology UPM 09). More systematic release programme needed involving short and long tearm research and very costly.

Source : The Star, Malaysia, 06 Jul '06 By : Tan Cheng Li

Last colony of Milky Storks

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.

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The issue was promoted in 2006 when the milky stork was really in bad condition. The numbers are low, the habitats are threatened, public awareness is low, enforcement and monitoring are limited, research is limited, special allocation for milky stork was not clear and in general we can say less effort to pr0tect and conserve this milky stork. Hopefully in 2009, 2010 onwards more money will be allocated and milky stork will be protected and coserveed systematically. Government through Department of Wildlife and National Park (PERHILITAN), Forest Department, State Governments, Corporate Sectors. Private Companies, NGOs should come forwards to tackle this issue, Milky Stork Conservation.