Endangered Crested Ibises to be Released in Noto Peninsula; Birds Populating Region Hoped to be Reconstruction Symbol

The Yomiuri Shimbun

12:01 JST, February 16, 2025

The Environment Ministry plans to release crested ibises in the quake-hit Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture around early June next year as part of efforts to reintroduce the endangered bird into the wild.

It will be the first time the bird, which is a designated special natural monument, will be freed in Japan’s main island of Honshu.

About 15 to 20 crested ibises will be released each time. The ministry plans to continue the release for multiple years so the birds can be resettled in the wild.

The plan was approved by a panel of experts on Friday. The month of June was chosen for the release window because the birds have had a high rate of survival in previous release attempts on Sado Island at around the same time of year. A specific location for the release will be determined by around July this year.

Japanese crested ibises once lived across Japan. But the last native-born one died in 2003.

Japan succeeded in artificial breeding using a pair of crested ibises donated from China in Niigata Prefecture’s Sado Island. The ministry has since conducted a project to release birds into the wild.

The Ishikawa prefectural government hopes the bird will become a symbol of the region’s reconstruction from the major earthquake in January 2024. In its creative reconstruction plan drawn up in June last year, the local government incorporated an undertaking to make “crested ibises flying over the Noto region” a reality.