One more Great Indian Bustard fitted with transmitter in Nanaj

NAGPUR: Fifteen months after a Great Indian Bustard (GIB) was fitted with a solar-powered platform terminal transmitter (PTT) in Ashti in Warora tehsil, one more bird was fitted with such PTT in GIB sanctuary in Nanaj near Solapur.
Suresh Thorat, additional principal chief conservator of forests (APCCF) for wildlife (west), said the PTT was fitted under ‘Tracking movement of GIBs in Maharashtra’ project sanctioned by the union environment ministry.“It will help us to know about movement of the bird and its habitat,” Thorat said. The transmitter was fitted by Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, scientist Bilal Habib. “After a survey, we selected a spot and trapped the bird. We have fitted the PTT on a male on April 17. In monsoon, a similar experiment will be carried out on a female,” Habib said.
The state has been granted permission from MoEFCC to fit PTTs to three GIBs — two females and a male under the project. One GIB, also a male from Ashti in Warora tehsil in Chandrapur district, was fitted with a PTT on December 25, 2013. This was for the first time in the world such an experiment was carried out on a GIB to know about its ecology and habits. Earlier, such experiments have been conducted for Australian bustard and cranes.
The GPS transmitter is expected to function for 3 to 5 years. In Warora, initially movement of the bird was recorded in Wani area. However, after six months the bird could not be traced. Even Warora forest officials could not confirm whereabouts of the bird. Each PTT costs around Rs 4 lakh. The Rs 37 lakh project was funded by the state government under Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).
Not more than 30 birds are estimated to have been left in their natural habitat in the state. They are concentrated in some pockets of Warora, Umred and Nanaj. GIB is listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and has been granted highest level of protection.