The reporter learned from the Wildlife Protection General Station of the Forestry Department of Zhejiang Province that, following the success of natural wild breeding of crested ibises in northern China, the Xiazhu Lake Crested Ibis Breeding Base in Deqing County, Zhejiang, also successfully achieved wild breeding of released crested ibises on May 20. This is the first such case in southern China and a major breakthrough in expanding the crested ibis population in China.

The crested ibis is currently an extremely endangered bird worldwide, a national first-class key protected animal, and is known as the "Oriental Gem." In 1981, only 7 remained, all in Yang County, Shaanxi. In 2008, Zhejiang University and Deqing County jointly launched the "Crested Ibis Ex Situ Conservation and Zhejiang Population Reconstruction Project," introducing 5 pairs of crested ibises from Shaanxi to settle at Xiazhu Lake. The crested ibises then bred successfully, and by last year the population had reached 146.

On November 12 last year, the Xiazhu Lake Crested Ibis Breeding Base implemented a crested ibis rewilding and release plan, and after 6 years the project finally took an important step. After several months of close tracking and observation, researchers were delighted to find that this group of crested ibises not only survived tenaciously, but also officially entered the breeding period in late January this year.

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