San Francisco Frontiers - Newly-hatched rare Indian bustard chick gets 50-strong guard

The birds, metre-tall desert dwellers, have plummeted in number over the past 25 years, with only around 150 believed to remain in the wild.

They are threatened by feral dogs, habitat encroachment, and collisions with power lines in areas now increasingly used for vast solar projects.

It was the first chick hatched succesfully in the state of Gujarat for a decade.

"The hatching... is rare and momentous occasion for our conservation efforts," Gujarat state conservation officer Dheeraj Mittal told AFP.

"But the real challenge begins now," he added. "We have teams of about 50 people monitoring the movement of the mother bird, around the clock."

The bird is listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

India's Supreme Court had ordered power lines be buried in key breeding zones after bustards were killed in collisions.

The government, however, successfully petitioned to overturn the ruling, arguing it would hinder renewable energy targets.

Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said a "jumpstart approach" was used to provide an egg for the three birds -- all female -- that made up the last population in the desert grasslands of Kutch.

Wildlife officers brought in an egg from its breeding programme on a 19-hour-long road trip using a handheld incubator, a nearly 800-kilometre (500-mile) journey, Yadav said.

Mittal said villagers had been asked to keep their cattle away.

"Our priority is to secure and protect the chick and its mother from other predators," he added.

Q.Nelson--SFF