Two losses this year but experts optimistic about great Indian bustard rewilding initiative
One bird was likely predated upon by a desert fox while earlier in March a chick had gone missing.
Black News 
In what is being considered a milestone for Project Great Indian Bustard, four captive-bred great Indian bustards (GIBs) were released into the wild in early October at the Desert National Park in Rajasthan. On October 17, one of the four birds was found dead, apparently predated upon by a desert fox the day before.
The authorities, however, do not consider the loss a setback. Sutirtha Dutta, a lead scientist with the Wildlife Institute of India, informs Mongabay-India that mortality due to predation and starvation, as well as threats posed by existing infrastructure, is expected during rewilding.
Earlier this year, a GIB chick hatched in the wild in Kutch, Gujarat, in March after a fertilised egg was transported from the conservation breeding centre at Sam in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer. It then went missing in April and could not be traced despite searches by forest officials.
The egg had been transported as part of the Jumpstart Approach, an attempt to restore a breeding population of GIBs in Gujarat, another former range state of the bird. The approach uses eggs from Rajasthan’s captive-breeding programme and gets wild female bustards in Gujarat to incubate and rear the chicks.
Forest department officials suspected that the chick had been predated upon, although no remains were recovered. Its disappearance prompted the state government...
