On the 26th, three Japanese grouse kept at a zoo in Nagano City were transported to the Central Alps, where plans to revive the endangered Japanese grouse are underway.
The Japanese grouse, a special natural monument of Japan, was thought to be extinct in the Central Alps, but after one female was confirmed to live in 2018, the Ministry of the Environment is planning to revive it.
As part of this effort, the Ministry of the Environment carried out its first initiative in August last year to transfer Japanese grouse from the Central Alps to zoos in Nagano City and Tochigi Prefecture to breed, and then return them to the Central Alps.
On the 26th, the zoo was transported for the second time, and three boxes, one by one, were transported to Senjojiki in the Central Alps at an altitude of about 2,1 meters by car or ropeway.
Atsushi Kobayashi, a specialist at the Shinetsu Natural Environment Office of the Ministry of the Environment, who was interviewed in Senjojiki, relaxed his expression, saying, "I am relieved to be able to bring Japanese grouse all the way here."
After this, an employee from the Ministry of the Environment carried the box on his back to the summit of Kiso Komagatake, and the three Japanese grouse were placed in a hut called a cage after 3 p.m.
According to the Ministry of the Environment, the original plan was for the second transfer of Japanese grouse to take place next year, waiting for breeding in zoos.
However, breeding did not go as expected, so it was decided to carry out the event on the 3th in order to return the Japanese grouse to the Central Alps as soon as possible.
The Ministry of the Environment plans to naturally release Japanese grouse in cages for about one week after accustoming them to the alpine environment.