Conservationists launch last-ditch bid to save sandpiper from extinction

Scientists have embarked on an emergency mission to save one of the world's rarest birds, the spoon-billed sandpiper, from extinction. Experts led by staff at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and Birds Russia have established a captive breeding scheme to try and prevent it from disappearing altogether. The conservation team has headed to the Russian Far East to locate and collect eggs from the endangered bird, whose numbers had fallen to just 120-200 pairs by 2009. It is hoped the eggs will hatch in an incubation facility on the tundra in Russia, before the chicks are brought to a breeding unit at WWT's headquarters in Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, where staff will rear them to establish a captive population. The captive breeding birds will be the source for reintroductions into the wild, once the threats to the spoon-billed sandpipers have been tackled, and provide a safety net in case the bird becomes extinct in the wild. The migratory bird's numbers are thought to be declining by around a quarter each year due to very low survival rates of juvenile spoon-billed sandpipers and could go extinct within a decade without action to help it. The wading birds are being hit by hunting in their wintering grounds in Burma, and by damage to habitats on their migration 'flyway' along the coasts of Korea, China and Japan, the conservationists warn. While efforts are being made to tackle the threats to the species in the wild, it will not be possible to turn round the sandpiper's fortunes quickly enough to save it from extinction without securing a captive breeding population, the conservation groups said. WWT director of conservation Debbie Pain said the species was 'falling off a cliff' and the captive breeding bid - which also involves the RSPB, the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), BirdLife International, ArcCona, the Spoon-Billed Sandpiper Task Force and Moscow Zoo - was 'essential'. Dr Pain said: 'The population decline has been so dramatic and so rapid in recent years that even if measures are taken in the wild there's still an incredibly high extinction risk in the next ten years.' She said the conservation bid was logistically very challenging, but there was a good chance of success, and reintroduced birds would retain an 'innate ability to migrate' in the same way as wild ones, even if they are bred thousands of miles away. Dr Geoff Hilton, Head of Species Research at WWT, said: 'No one has ever reared this species in captivity, but we are global experts in rearing wetland birds and if anyone can do it, our conservation breeding team can. 'It is not an option to sit back while we know we have the skills to stop extinction in its tracks.' He said the wading bird was a 'truly remarkable species', with a bill shaped like a spoon. 'This adaptation, entirely unique to its family, makes it one of the most weird and wonderful bird species on the planet.' Tim Stowe, the RSPB's director of international operations, said: 'Establishing a conservation breeding programme will buy this enigmatic shorebird some time - but let's not be under any illusions, leaders in countries that can act to save spoon-billed sandpipers need to step up and address the levels of habitat loss and hunting that have brought this bird to the brink.' He added: 'Effective action for spoon-billed sandpipers will have immense additional benefits - not only for the millions of other birds that share the migration flyway, but also by ensuring vital coastal wetlands are safeguarded, bringing protection and sustainable futures to coastal communities.'