Rewilding peafowls: Testing commitment, science and community engagement

The Green Peafowl was once a Hill Tracts resident. Photo: Collected

After more than four decades of absence, the Peafowl (Pavo cristatus) — once a familiar sight in the forests of Bangladesh — has made a cautious return. 

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, in partnership with the Bangladesh Forest Department and the Creative Conservation Alliance, has launched a rewilding programme to restore this iconic bird to its natural habitat.

In May this year, 20 captive-bred adult peafowls, five males and 15 females, were transferred to a newly constructed soft-release enclosure in Madhupur National Park. Over the course of a year, the birds will undergo an adaptation phase within the enclosure, gradually acclimatising to natural conditions before their full release into the surrounding Sal Forest. 

While small in scale, this step marks a significant milestone in Bangladesh's efforts to restore its native biodiversity.

Losing peacocks

Historically, Bangladesh was home to two species of peafowl: the Indian Peafowl and the Green Peafowl, with the latter once inhabiting the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Among the two, the Indian Peafowl was more widespread, commonly found in deciduous and scrub forests, particularly in the central and northern districts.

However, due to extensive habitat destruction, unregulated hunting, and a lack of conservation attention, peafowls were driven to local extinction by the early 1980s. In 2015, the IUCN officially declared the species "Extinct in the Wild" in Bangladesh. Today, their presence lives on mostly through old photographs, personal anecdotes, and historical references.

Many older Dhaka residents can recall seeing peacocks in places like Ramna Park and Savar — areas where the bird once roamed freely. Ironically, Bangladesh was once among the very few countries where both the Indian Peafowl and the endangered Green Peafowl lived freely in the wild.

Why Madhupur?

The choice of Madhupur National Park as a reintroduction site is rooted in its ecological history. This Sal-dominated forest once supported a wide array of wildlife and served as a stronghold for peafowl.

However, the forest is now a fragment of its former self. Over the decades, it has been severely degraded by deforestation, agricultural expansion, and human encroachment. Despite this, Madhupur still provides a semi-natural landscape with mixed forest patches, agricultural mosaics, and regulated protection.

The forest's status as a national park offers a degree of legal protection, which is essential for any long-term conservation effort. Most importantly, the Indian Peafowl, being a habitat generalist, can adapt to a wide range of environmental conditions. 

In fact, several introduced populations are now thriving in non-native regions, including parts of Europe, the Middle East, and even the United States. This ecological flexibility provides Bangladesh with a promising foundation for reintroduction.

Yet, the degraded state of the landscape underscores the challenges ahead. Reintroducing a large, ground-dwelling bird into a human-dominated environment brings numerous ecological and logistical uncertainties.

Challenges of rewilding

Captive-bred peafowl are not born with the instincts necessary to survive in the wild. They are unfamiliar with natural predators, may lack efficient foraging skills, and are often less wary of human settlements.

This makes post-release survival uncertain. Bird expert Enam Ul Haque emphasised this point: "Captive-bred birds need to be conditioned to wild environments before their full release," he said. "They should be trained to roost in trees, recognise predators, and avoid human contact. Without this preparation, the reintroduction risks failure."

To improve the chances of success, he suggests surveillance and satellite tracking of the released birds. Monitoring their movement, behavior, and survival rates is essential not only for adaptive management but also for guiding future reintroduction efforts.

Another serious challenge is protecting the birds from poaching. Although peafowl are extinct in the wild in Bangladesh, they remain relatively common as cage birds, and their meat is occasionally considered a delicacy. Without community awareness and effective law enforcement, released birds may face the same threats — especially given the heavy human use of the park. 

In this context, long-term survival depends not only on ecological suitability but also on changing human attitudes and reducing hunting pressures. Without community engagement, the future of peafowl in Madhupur looks bleak.

Northern sightings 

Rewilding efforts must be anchored in rigorous science and sustained community participation. Photo: Collected

Despite the challenges, peafowl have not disappeared entirely from public view. In recent years, field observations, mostly by citizen scientists and bird enthusiasts, have confirmed occasional sightings in northern districts like Panchagarh and Thakurgaon. These birds are believed to be stragglers from the forests of northern West Bengal, where the Indian Peafowl, India's national bird, roams abundantly.

One such incident drew national media attention last month in Darjipara village of Tetulia, where a small group of peafowl was observed foraging in maize and sugarcane fields. For local farmers, such sightings are not uncommon, as these birds appear seasonally in the agricultural mosaic. 

Encouragingly, many villagers in this region tend to leave the birds undisturbed, showing a quiet form of coexistence. However, not all encounters end peacefully. Often, peafowl are captured and eaten, which is a grim reminder of the threats reintroduced birds may face, especially in areas where forest cover is thin and human activity is intense.

And yet, one cannot help but wonder: Why do these reports always come from citizen scientists? Why is there so little formal documentation of peafowl presence or absence? What was the situation in the 1990s or early 2000s? When did the bird truly go extinct?

Public and private partnerships matter

The peafowl reintroduction effort has been made possible through a collaborative model involving government agencies, conservation NGOs, and private enterprises. Initial financial support came from Echotex Limited, a textile company, demonstrating how corporate actors can contribute to funding and supporting wildlife conservation.

The success of such initiatives will increasingly depend on continued investments, not only in terms of money but also in training, research, monitoring, and public outreach. Strengthening the capacity of the Forest Department, especially with the recent approval of 360 new positions, is a step in the right direction.

Research, outreach and coexistence

For this rewilding effort to succeed, it must be anchored in rigorous science and sustained community participation. There is no alternative. Critical knowledge gaps, including predator-prey dynamics, habitat preferences, and the breeding success of released birds, must be addressed through focused, long-term studies.

At the same time, local communities cannot remain passive observers. Their role must be reimagined, not as bystanders but as active stewards of the landscape and the returning species. No amount of fencing or monitoring alone has ever guaranteed the success of a rewilding effort. Human dimensions matter just as much.

Practical steps could include training programs for forest staff, community-led monitoring, compensation mechanisms for crop damage, and awareness initiatives that foster a sense of pride and tolerance toward peafowls. Given the bird's cultural significance and aesthetic appeal, the initiative also offers opportunities to link conservation with eco-tourism, school-based education, and public engagement campaigns.

Above all, this moment calls for consistent investment in knowledge. Research, research, and more research, not only to support this effort but to ensure that rewilding becomes a viable, repeatable model for restoring lost species. Successful rewilding occurs when a species establishes a viable and sustaining population in a once-extinct habitat. Let us not drift from that goal.

A cautious optimism

The return of the peafowl is not just a symbolic gesture; it is a litmus test for the country's broader conservation ambitions. Can Bangladesh restore parts of its lost biodiversity? Can human-modified landscapes still support native species? Can communities be allies in conservation?

These questions will define the fate of the peacock and of many other species that once thrived in these forests. For now, a small flock of peafowls waits and adjusts itself for Madhupur under watchful eyes. Their future is uncertain, but their presence marks a hopeful, if tentative, step toward ecological restoration.