the Brandenburg ostrich - Landesamt für Umwelt, Gesundheit und ...

28ConservationThe eggs for the artificial brood are from clutchesinadvertently mown free, but are also sometimesspecifically gathered. But doesn’t it endanger thepopulation when the eggs are just “taken away”from the Great Bustards? Long-term observationshave shown that so-called “predators”, primarilyfoxes, eat a large percentage of the clutches. Notonly Great Bustards, but also many species thatbrood on meadows are increasingly suffering thisfate, and especially in large swaths of CentralEurope. For the Great Bustards it is primarily theearlier clutches that end in the stomachs of predators,at times when the vegetation doesn’t provideenough cover. Since these eggs would be lostin any case and as the hens regularly lay severalsubsequent clutches the responsible parties in theEnvironmental Agency and the Great Bustard ConservationFoundation decided to take a portion ofthese clutches to brood and raise at the hands ofmen. The natural tendency to subsequent clutchesmeans that eggs are found into July and youngbirds into August. The rescued eggs are artificiallybrooded in an incubator and humans then rear thehatched chicks. The bustards are not allowed toget used to being cared for like house pets.To ensure the freed birds behave in a mannerappropriate to the species it is necessary:❚ to reduce contact with humans to a minimum❚ to limit contact to a few, uniformly dressedpersons❚ to begin the process of returning them to thewild at around six weeks.In the HavelländischesLuch the goalof a self-sustainingpopulation has almostbeen reached. Thepopulation, whichhas almost quadrupledsince 1996, wasbuilt largely withoutartificial brooding,but wouldn’t havebeen possible withoutintensive managementof the wild broodsinside a fox-proofprotection fence. Theslump in 2011 was aWinter flight caused.7060504030201001996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012