Research to develop new method on houbara breeding

Innovative research to develop new and improved methods of breeding the endangered houbara bustards in captivity seem to be currently underway at the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) in Dubai.

Developing cultural vaccines to inoculate houbara bustards against diseases and research into protocols for more efficient ways of preserving this wild bird's semen are a few of the projects being conducted by the CVRL, in collaboration with their partner in this area, the Morocco-based International Foundation for Conservation and Development of Wildlife (IFCDW).

Last year, the CVRL, a government veterinary research and diagnostic lab in Dubai, founded by General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai and the UAE Minister of Defence, entered into an agreement with the IFCDW, in Agadir, to exchange staff and share each other's technical knowhow and expertise to enhance captive animal breeding techniques.

Paul McCormick, Director of the IFCDW, recently said: "What we've agreed upon is to conduct joint research, recognising each other's proficiency in our respective fields, the IFCDW's in captive houbara breeding practices and the CVRL in veterinary science."

While the Dubai CVRL involves itself in the diagnosis, prevention, control and eradication of infectious animal diseases with 50-60 per cent of its work centred on camels, the IFCDW runs a highly productive captive houbara bustard breeding farm complete with a hi-tech genetic research lab.

This partnership seems to have further stepped up with IFCDW's participation in installing Dubai's first ever houbara bustard breeding centre at Nakhlee, due to a cooperation programme between Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum and Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud's IFCDW.

Chris Dumatol, a CVRL research technician, who was recently stationed at the IFCDW houbara farm in Agadir, pointed out: "There's a lot of emphasis at the moment on researching the houbara at the CVRL because of it's status as an endangered and dying species and also due to the new houbara breeding centre coming up in Dubai."

Dumatol was flown to the Morocco houbara bustard captive breeding farm for three weeks to collect the bird's semen, particularly for the research project on developing advanced foolproof methods of freezing and thawing them.

Improving preservation techniques of houbara semen mainly helps in storing bird semen stocked with superior genetic value, McCormick stated.

A high genetic diversity among birds is one of the requirements to successfully breed houbaras in an artificial insemination breeding programme, said McCormick, hoping to replicate the IFCDW's success in Dubai.

Recognising the increasing interest in avian genetics in the world to conserve rapidly depleting wild birds or animals, the IFCDW had in fact, invested in a sophisticated genetic lab in 1995.

The DNA research here, in fact, is being done through tissue samples from dead birds, museum specimens, feathers and using non-invasive procedures such as faecal samples and significantly, can be applied to any captive animal breeding programme in the world.

In fact, the IFCDW has opened up their lab facilities not just to the CVRL, but also to other organisations and governments keen on identifying the DNA strains as a mean to offer solutions to stem the decline of any extinct animal species.

For example, the IFCDW has already submitted the DNA based reports to the Moroccan government on two species of birds, the bald ibis and the Great Bustard, which are down to their last surviving flocks.