Will the Sacred Ibis fly again in Egypt?
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The ancient Egyptians venerated a number of deities in animal form but rarely has that veneration been of much benefit to these species in modern Egypt. Most are extinct. Sekhmet, the lion-headed goddess, was venerated as the daughter of Ra but the lion disappeared from here centuries ago. Tawaret, who looked over women during childbirth, was portrayed with the head of a hippopotamus but the hippo died out at least 200 years ago through hunting and habitat destruction. Sobek was worshipped as the crocodile deity, a symbol of royal power, but the Nile Crocodile has been wiped out north of the High Dam. Thoth, represented as a baboon or an ibis, was master of the scribes, but the present day sacred baboon and sacred ibis have both disappeared from modern Egypt. The good news for one of these species, reported in Nature Conservation Egypt (NCE)’s first e-newsletter is that the Sacred Ibis might just be on the verge of returning.
According to NCE, French NGO Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux (LPO) under the auspices of BirdLife International is looking to reintroduce the sacred ibis into Egypt. France has a growing feral population of the sacred ibis originating from escaped captive birds. The plan is to release a number of these birds into areas of suitable habitat here. NCE is to make detailed studies of the birds’ current breeding habitat in neighboring Sudan and then to propose suitable areas for release back into the wild here.
Excerpted from an article by Richard Hoath for Egypt Today
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