Proposal to protect rare ground bird

Mumbai, Jan 18 (PTI) Twenty-five years after therediscovery of the rare ground bird - Jerdon''s Courser - inAndhra Pradesh''s Kadapa district by the Bombay Natural HistorySociety (BNHS), a proposal has been mooted for long-termprotection of the species.

Based on a study done by BNHS since the bird''srediscovery in January 1986, Andhra Pradesh Forest Departmentrecently submitted a Species Recovery Plan (SRP) to UnionMinistry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), BNHS director AsadRahmani said today.

National Board for Wildlife (NBWL), in its StandingCommittee meeting on January 24, will consider the inclusionof Jerdon''s Courser as one of the species for long-termprotection under the Centrally-sponsored scheme "IntegratedDevelopment of National Parks and Sanctuaries", Rahmani said.

Under this plan, many other rare species will alsobe considered for inclusion, Rahmani, a member of NBWL, said.

The three major components of this scheme areassistance to protected areas, assistance to outside protectedareas and assistance for initiating recovery plans.

Jerdon''s Courser was first recorded in 1848 bysurgeon-naturalist T C Jerdon in the "hilly region above theEastern Ghats in Andhra Pradesh". It was later also recordedin Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra and Anantapur andBhadrachalam districts of Andhra Pradesh.