India has begun moving captive-bred Great Indian Bustards back towards the wild, with Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav participating in the initial process to release two birds from a soft-release facility at the Desert National Park in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer. The critically endangered birds are scheduled to be set free on Sunday, marking a new phase in the country’s conservation programme for the species.
The release is intended to move the programme beyond building a viable captive population towards rewilding and strengthening the Great Indian Bustard population in its natural habitat. The initiative is being carried out jointly by the Union Environment Ministry, the Rajasthan forest department and the Wildlife Institute of India.
The two birds are currently being prepared at a soft-release facility, where captive-bred animals can undergo a transition before entering the wild. The programme’s immediate objective is to use captive reproduction to support the species in the Thar landscape, where the Great Indian Bustard is regarded as both an ecological indicator and part of the region’s cultural heritage.
According to the information released about the programme, facilities at Sam and Ramdevra in Rajasthan currently house 97 Great Indian Bustards. Of these, 40 originated from wild-laid eggs, while 57 were bred in captivity. The facilities are maintaining 86 birds for captive reproduction, and 11 have been earmarked for release into the wild.
The captive-breeding programme produced 24 live chicks in 2025 and 29 in 2026, according to details shared at the event. These figures indicate the scale of the institutional effort now supporting the species, while the planned release introduces a more complex operational stage: ensuring that captive-bred birds can survive and contribute to the population outside controlled facilities.
Yadav described the Great Indian Bustard as a species brought back from the brink of extinction through the efforts of the Union and Rajasthan governments. He also linked the conservation programme to economic opportunities for local communities through eco-tourism and to the wider ecological role of the bird as an umbrella species for the Thar ecosystem.
The planned release therefore connects wildlife conservation with the management of a fragile desert landscape. The next stage will depend on the transition of the 11 earmarked birds from captive facilities into the wild, beginning with the two birds scheduled for release at the Desert National Park. The programme is being presented as a shift from conservation breeding towards restoring the species in its natural habitat.