Urgent repairs to two ASAP bird species breeding facilities at Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity (ACCB)

The emergency

 The only ex situ assurance populations for the Bengal Florican and White-shouldered Ibis are found at ACCB, with the breeding facilities constructed in 2021 and 2019 respectively. These enclosures were built with the best materials available at the time. However, the strong UV light and high humidity in Cambodia has caused the enclosure netting to disintegrate rapidly. Repairing these holes is only a temporary solution as the frequency of formation, size of each hole and repair difficulty increases with time. If the aviary nets are not replaced in a timely manner, there is a significant possibility of these Critically Endangered birds escaping from their enclosure and sustaining injuries e.g. getting entangled in the netting and/or accessing neighbouring enclosures with aggressive conspecifics. Loss or injury to any captive birds would impact the significant progress made by these globally important conservation breeding efforts. 

The project

UV resistant netting material will be sourced from overseas and installed on the enclosures for Bengal Florican and White-shouldered Ibis at ACCB. This will also be used as an opportunity to increase the number of separation enclosures at the White-shouldered Ibis breeding facility. White-shouldered Ibises are solitary breeders and increasing enclosures will allow for separation during the breeding season, thereby increasing the conservation breeding programme’s success.    

Photo credit: Ashish-John-WCS