They had two adult male Great Bustards here until recently; one is an injured bird from the release project on Salibury Plain and the other was a much older confiscated bird from a Belgian bird collection. The Belgian bird was from the Spanish race, so was not part of the release scheme, but he died recently. I think the one in these photos may be the other, Russian, bird as it has a numbered wingtag like all the birds in the release scheme.
Update; there are now a few more Bustards here which failed to make the grade when release time came- perhaps four in total. I believe the original male 'Fergus' may have been put in a seperate enclosure with a female(s?) to see if they will breed.
Just noticed this photo again. I don't know if they have received any more failed release birds here, but last year for the first time there was no autumn release of young birds by the GBT. They seem to be revising the protocol of how to try to establish them better as I believe after 10 years of releases(first being in 2004) there are only about nine birds at large on the Plain, which is a very low survival rate obviously. Afaik though the free living birds have nested on several occassions, no young have yet survived. I think the overall problem with their survival can be summed up in one word- Foxes. Whether these captive birds can play a significant role- perhaps by themselves breeding successfully, I don't know.
They are a jolly nice species; saw them for the first time at Tierpark Berlin last month. Although the odds seem slim, I would love them to be re-established in the UK; maybe a different reintroduction site might be worth a crack.
I don't think there is anywhere else suitable apart from Salisbury Plain. That's why it has been the location of both of the recent schemes. I think they are working on restructuring the methods they use though.
