Against a backdrop of habitat loss and illegal wildlife trade, two 9-month-old storks were given something increasingly rare: a real chance to survive in the wild.
In November, two captive-bred greater adjutant stork chicks were released into Cambodia's Siem Pang Wildlife Sanctuary in a carefully monitored experiment to bring the species back from the brink.
According to Reuters, the birds, one male and one female, were raised in captivity before being introduced to the protected landscape, where conservationists hope they can begin adapting to life outside human care.
Each stork was fitted with a GPS tracker so researchers can follow where they go and how they fare.
"This place is perfect because there are still wild Greater Adjutants in the area," Jack Willis, who leads research at the Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity, told Reuters.
"We're hoping by releasing them here that they could perhaps join a colony, but also this area is very well protected by Rising Phoenix and the Ministry of Environment."
The Greater Adjutant Stork is hard to miss. With broad black wings and a long bare neck, it is one of the largest storks in the world. Size, however, has offered little protection.
The species was once listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List, its numbers declining due to poaching and the steady disappearance of wetlands.
Years of conservation work have helped reverse that slide, and the bird is now classified as "Near Threatened."
Even so, the population remains small. The ACCB estimated that about 1,500 mature Greater Adjutant Storks remain globally. Roughly 200 to 250 live in Cambodia, with most of the rest found in northeast India. That concentration leaves the species vulnerable to sudden shocks.
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Definitely 👍 "It could take one, one big event and we could lose an awful lot in Cambodia," Willis said, pointing to why captive breeding remains part of the strategy.
At the ACCB's conservation center in Siem Reap province, three rescued breeding pairs are being cared for, though only one pair has successfully produced chicks.
Many of the birds were taken from wildlife traffickers and never learned how to raise young in the wild, which complicates breeding and release efforts.
The newly released storks are not expected to integrate into wild colonies right away. Migration routes and breeding behaviors are typically learned from older birds, and these chicks are navigating that transition largely on their own.
For now, conservationists are watching closely. The stork's GPS trackers will show where they travel, how they forage, and whether they survive their first months outside captivity.
If they do, the release could offer a new path forward for a species that still lives with little margin for error.
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