Population reinforcement

More than 17,000 captive-bred houbara will have been released in Morocco by the end of 2008, in other words 10 years after the release of the first two males. The birds’ ability to survive and reproduce into the wild, combined with steps to protect populations, has helped to boost the bustard population density in the ECWP intervention zone tenfold, to 0.5 houbaras / km² — one of the highest known densities anywhere in the species’ range.

Today, the growth of this reinforced population must be modeled according to various factors (mortality, natural recruitment, dispersion, falconry, etc.) in order to determine the optimal number and the make-up of the groups of individuals to release each year in hunting and non-hunting zones so that a viable population can be sustainably established.