Japan has agreed to send 16 crested ibises born in Niigata Prefecture to China later this month, sources familiar with the matter said Saturday, sparking hope the transfer will help improve strained bilateral ties.
File photo taken in January 2014 shows an ibis found in Niigata’s Akiba Ward after being released on Sado Island. (Photo courtesy of the Ministry of the Environment) (Kyodo)
Japanese-born ibises became extinct in 2003, but Japan has been artificially breeding the internationally protected species using birds donated by China, the first of which arrived in 1999. According to memoranda of understanding between the two countries, half of the offspring born through this method must be sent back to China.
The first such return came in March 2002 but the last transfer was back in March 2016, as outbreaks of bird flu and then the COVID-19 pandemic put things on hold. So far 47 birds have been transferred back to China.
File photo taken in October 2018 shows ibises in flight in Sado, Niigata Prefecture. (Kyodo)
The 16 crested ibises — seven males and nine females born between 2016 and 2022 in a conservation center on Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture — will be sent to Beijing Zoo, the sources said.
Since 2008, Japan has been releasing ibises on Sado Island to reintroduce them into the wild.
As of the end of 2023, 532 crested ibises were estimated to live in the wild in Japan, while some 160 are kept in facilities in Tokyo, Niigata, Ishikawa and Shimane prefectures.
Relations between the two Asian neighbors have been deteriorating over a host of issues, including the fatal stabbing of a Japanese schoolboy in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen last month. Some observers expect the transfer of crested ibises will promote bilateral academic exchanges.
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