Japan Releases Endangered Storks Into The Wild

FLORA AND FAUNA

Oriental White Storks.

Tokyo (AFP) Sep 24, 2005
Five artificially bred white storks flew into open skies from a Japanese park Saturday as part of a half-century effort to protect and return the endangered species to the wild, officials said.

"All the five took off just fine," said an official at a protection centre for the endangered storks in Hyogo prefecture in western Japan.

Prince Akishino, the second son of Emperor Akihito, and Akishino's wife Kiko cut a red-and-white ribbon to open a box and release the first of the five storks in a ceremony joined by 200 academics, politicians and local officials.

Thousands of spectators applauded and cheered as the white birds with black-hemmed wings were released.

It was the first time that artificially-bred oriental white storks had been released in an attempt to bring them back to the wild, the park said.

It was also the first time in more than three decades that the birds had flown in Japanese skies as the last domestic wild stork died shortly after being taken into protective captivity in 1971.

"As there are no boundaries for birds, I hope the day will come when we see oriental white storks flitting about in Northeast Asia," Hyogo Governor Toshizo Ido said after the release.

There are only about 2,000 oriental white storks in the world, the majority of them in Russia and China.

Japan designated the storks as a national treasure in 1956 as their numbers plunged following rapid urban development and increasing pollution.

The state and Toyooka city in Hyogo started projects to breed the bird in the 1960s. The first success came in 1989 using a pair donated by the then Soviet Union.

The five storks released Saturday were three females and two males born between 1998 and 2003 which had been trained to fly and feed themselves in order to survive in the wild.

Each of them is carrying an 80-gram (2.8 ounce) tracking device on their back which will send data to a US weather satellite 850 kilometers (530 miles) above Earth. The data will then be passed to Japanese researchers via the Internet.

FLORA AND FAUNA

US Launches Campaign Against Asia Wildlife Trade Amid Bird Flu Threat

Washington (AFP) Sep 23, 2005
Amid the danger of an avian flu pandemic, the United States launched a global coalition Friday to lobby Asian governments to tighten enforcement on wildlife trafficking.

DISASTER MANAGEMENT PanAmSat Launches Emergency Response Team Devastated By Worst US Hurricane In 1900, Galveston Readies For Rita U.S. Gears Up To Stop Katrina Fraud ASEAN Says Drill Shows Need For Better Emergency Response Coordination	CLIMATE SCIENCE Lands Surface Change On Alaska Tundra Creating Longer, Warmer Summers In Arctic Impact Of Global Warming On Weather Patterns Underestimated Bury Climate-Warming Gas, Scientists Say Earth's Wobble Burps
EARTH OBSERVATION NASA Technology Monitors Wildlife Habitats From The Air Orbimage Announces Awards Totaling $6.1M Of ClearView Orders From The NGA NASA Cooperative Airborne Laser Mapping Studies Katrina Damage Orbimage Announces Agreement To Purchase Assets Of Space Imaging	ENERGY TECH Winter Shutdown Approved For Wind Farms Heart Of US Petroleum Industry Menaced By Rita More Than 70 Percent Of US Gulf Of Mexico Oil Output Cut By Hurricanes Oil Prices Higher On Hurricane Rita Fears
EPIDEMICS U.N. Concerned About Bird Flu In Indonesia Indonesia Plays Down Talk Of Bird Flu Epidemic Indonesia Says It Is Facing Bird Flu Epidemic United States To Press For Bird Flu Action Plan In APEC Summit	FLORA AND FAUNA Japan Releases Endangered Storks Into The Wild US Launches Campaign Against Asia Wildlife Trade Amid Bird Flu Threat Kenya Launches New Project To Conserve Famed Tsavo Wildlife Parks Experts Develop Global Action Plan To Save Amphibians Facing Extinction
FROTH AND BUBBLE Toxic Flood Lifts Lid On Common Urban Pollution Problem Metals Giant Rusal Faces Uzbek Anger Over Expansion Plan In Tajikistan New Orleans Suburb Covered In Slime Faces Uncertain Future Canada To Press Chinese President Over Pollution	ABOUT US Scientists Uncover Why Picture Perception Works The Roots Of Civilization Trace Back To ... Roots The Mechanics Of Foot Travel Compound May Prevent Neuron-Degeneration

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement