Mountain-chicken-release-Sweetwater-ghaut
52 captive bred mountain chickens were released into the Centre Hills, Friday.
32 of 52 captive bred mountain chickens equipped with radio transmitters, were released into the Centre Hills, Friday, June 27, 2014 in a fourth batch following release #2 on January 26, 2012. This is all part of a team working with a Mountain Chicken Project, to locate them periodically and check for signs of the chytrid fungus.
Mountain Chickens are on the brink of extinction because of the chytrid fungus and are only in existence on Montserrat and Dominica.
In February, 2012 members of the media and personnel from the Ministry of Agriculture and international Durrell Conservation, local counterparts, for the project and Sarah Lee Smith, gathered at locations at Sweetwater ghaut to witness these gigantic amphibians returned to their natural habitat.
On June 27 Laura Bambeenee of Durrell Wildlife Conservation said the mountain chickens were all in good condition and the team has been monitoring them since they arrived on island. The fourth batch released comprising the 52 mountain chickens arrived on island on Tuesday June 24th from the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust.
Back in 2012 when the second batch of captured bred mountain chickens was released into the forest at Sweetwater ghaut that Thursday evening of, Stephen Mendes who works with the project at the official release said, ”This is one of two phases of release for this year and we do hope it will be successful. There are a lot of unknowns in this project that we are doing, but eventually, and inevitably all the information and data that we are gathering would be for the better good, of not just for frogs in Montserrat, but frogs the world over.”
The release of the captive bred mountain chickens is part of the Mountain Chicken Project to save the species from extinction.
An admonishment back then still holds when the batch of frogs were released at three different locations on the hill. The encouragement to the public: “If you happen to visit the forest for any reason I admonish you to embrace the concept of taking nothing but pictures and leaving nothing behind but foot prints. Adopting this concept will go a long way in ensuring that the integrity of the forest is maintained thus enhancing the survival of not just the mountain chicken but other spices in the forest.”
