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| Mission
Statement
The Endangered Species Problem
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In 1980, ESRC Board of Director's member Dr. Daniel Brimm began an intensive
effort to recover the highly endangered Fiji Peregrine Falcon. Although
Peregrine Falcons are cosmopolitan, they reach the eastern-most extent
of their southern hemisphere breeding distribution in Fiji. In 1985, following
the preliminary studies of Fergus Clunie, Dr. Brimm (then on the Board
of Directors of The Peregrine Fund) and Dr. Clayton White of Brigham Young
University's Department of Zoology, began surveying the Fiji Islands and
Vanuatu (formerly the New Hebrides) to determine population density and
distribution for the Fiji Peregrine. As early as 1986, population declines
were evident, and with the support of the Peregrine Fund and Brigham Young,
they obtained permits from the Fijian government to import six chicks to
the U.S. to form the nucleus of a captive breeding program.
Over the last decade, the breeding program has produced a sufficient number of offspring to begin returning birds to Fiji. In 1998, a new captive breeding facility was constructed at the Kula Eco Park, Sigatoka Fiji, in a cooperative effort between its owners, Judy and Philip Felstead, and Dr. Brimm. The establishment of an in-country breeding program will allow young captive raised falcons to be released directly into the wild. Beginning in October 1997, in preparation or returning birds to Fiji, ESRC Project Coordinator Lisa Jerez oversaw the construction of a pre-departure quarantine and captive breeding facility in the mountains of San Diego County, consolidated the falcons there, and secured the CITES permits required for export of birds back to Fiji. In October 1998, Lisa escorted the five pairs of falcons on their return trip to Fiji. Over the next three months she monitored them during their quarantine period and the onset of the breeding season, and then transferred program management over to the capable staff of Kula Eco Park. While in Fiji, Lisa also began developing the environmental education program which will accompany the reintroduction of birds to the wild. As of March 1999, two of five pairs were incubating eggs, and Dan Brimm will continue to travel to Fiji to release the young birds when they are ready to fledge. |
© 2000 Endangered Species Recovery Council. All rights reserved.
