Red Junglefowl Introductions in the Southeastern United States: History and Research Legacy

Preparing captive-bred birds for reintroduction: the case of the Vietnam Pheasant Lophura edwardsi

“…• The state of Virginia, USA, spent 30 years working on releases of and release techniques for Wild Turkey Meleagris gallopavo from game farms before abandoning the programme as a total failure; Pennsylvania persisted for another 20 years, releasing over 200,000 birds 'with little to no evidence that any had established populations' (which was achieved instead by translocations) (Hughes and Lee 2015). • Between 1961 and 1971 some 10,000 Red Junglefowl Gallus gallus, derived from 117 pure individuals imported from India, were introduced into the south-eastern USA, but no descendants survive today (Condon et al 2019).…”

“…While the 'unfearfulness' (lack of vigilance and awareness) resulting in predation might be considered the consequence of lack of stress, any kind of new environment, making unprepared-for demands on an animal's stamina and resourcefulness, will itself elevate levels of stress: having to find food and shelter in unfamiliar contexts potentially represents a shock to an individual, one effect of which may be reduced cognitive ability, including predator identification (Teixeira et al 2007). One cause of the Red Junglefowl's failure to become established in the south-eastern USA (see above) was rapid long-distance dispersal, but birds were also reported to move, where possible, into denser vegetation (Condon et al 2019); rapid dispersal was probably therefore a highly stressed response to the absence of appropriate cover. Captive-bred Grey Partridges were more stressed by unpredictable food supply-which is far more likely a circumstance in the wild than in captivity-than wild ones, and survived less (Homberger et al 2013(Homberger et al , 2014.…”

“…The failure of the huge project to introduce Red Junglefowl to the south-eastern USA (see above) has largely been attributed to the use of 'hard' (i.e. instant) releases (Condon et al 2019). The fact that some birds were found in or seen heading toward dense vegetation (as mentioned above), when matched with the finding in Liu et al (2016) that soft-released birds selected more appropriate habitat, strongly implies that establishing the release site amidst dense cover is likely to help releasees in terms of stress minimisation and survival capacity.…”