Zoos Return Rare Myna Bird to Bali Jungle Habitat

International conservationists and Indonesian zookeepers are joining forces to save a rare bird from becoming the latest species of wildlife in Indonesia to become extinct.

The American Zoo Assn. has initiated a project to return the Rothschild’s myna to its natural habitat in the jungles of the famous resort island of Bali, about 550 miles east of Jakarta.

Wildlife officials said Indonesia’s population of the Rothschild’s mynas has been on the decline for years and is sinking to dangerous levels.

The birds are mainly white, with bright blue coloring around their eyes and black wing tips. They are mimicking birds and can be trained to “talk” like parrots.

Officials blame the bird’s dwindling population on poachers, who can command about $560 for each bird from people eager to keep the small crow-like animals as pets.

Indonesia is home to more than 1,500 types of birds--about one-sixth of the world’s bird species. But many species are vanishing.

Two species, the Javan watled lapwing and the Carculean Paradise flycatcher, have not been seen in Indonesia for decades and wildlife officials fear the Rothschild’s mynas could also disappear.

“In another generation or two, it will be difficult to find this rare bird in its natural habitat,” said Bas van Balen of the Worldwide Fund for Nature.

Van Balen estimated that there are only between 23 and 30 Rothschild’s mynas left in the Bali jungle, the bird’s natural habitat.

With more than 1,400 Rothschild’s mynas in zoos in the United States and Europe, the American Zoo Assn. has embarked on a 3-year program to return the bird to its jungle home.

The organization in the spring of 1988 sent 37 pairs of the bird to zoos in Surabaya for breeding in captivity.

Zoo officials in Surabaya, the capital city of East Java, about 400 miles east of Jakarta, say they hope the program can revive the bird’s population.

Zoo workers say they are preparing eight Rothschild’s mynas born in captivity to be released into the wild in April.

Harwono, a Surabyan zoo official involved in the project, said that, once released, the birds will be under close surveillance by wildlife experts who will monitor the mynas’ progress in adapting to their natural home.

“It will be the first time (in Indonesia) that birds threatened by poachers have been bred and transferred to their natural habitat,” Van Balen said.

Conservationists say no one knows how many birds are smuggled out of Indonesia each year. They contend that government efforts at protecting the nation’s wildlife are hampered by a lack of trained manpower and funds to patrol the vast archipelago.

Government officials refused to say how much money is spent each year in anti-poaching efforts or how many officers are employed to look out for poachers.

However, the officials said, in an effort to halt poaching of the rare species, the government has increased the maximum prison term for poachers from five years to 10 and added a maximum fine of $560,000.

Though wildlife organizations applaud the move, some say it doesn’t go far enough.

“Harsh sentences should be given to the fences who buy the poached animals,” Van Balen said.