At Madhupur National Park, north of Dhaka, a six-month-old peafowl chick represents something remarkable: the first wild-born peafowl Bangladesh has seen in years. In May 2025, the Bangladesh Forest Department, working with the Creative Conservation Alliance, moved 20 captive-raised Indian peafowls into a forest enclosure within Madhupur's sal tree forests. The birds—five males and fifteen females—were transferred from zoos and private enclosures to begin a carefully managed return to their ancestral home.
Indian peafowls once thrived in Bangladesh's sal forests, though the species has been extinct in the wild here for decades. The green peafowl, the country's other native species, was declared regionally extinct in 2015 due to habitat destruction and hunting. But a surprisingly robust captive population persisted: between 2009 and 2024, Bangladesh's Department of Livestock sold more than 400 peafowls—surplus from Dhaka Zoo—to private individuals across the country. These birds now form the foundation of a reintroduction effort that scientists are watching with cautious optimism.
The 20 birds placed in the forest enclosure in May produced a dozen eggs, and one chick successfully hatched—the sole offspring of the group, now thriving at six months old. Abu Naser Mohsin Hossain, an officer with the Tangail Forest Division, says the plan is to release only the naturally-hatched young. "Our plan is to release only the chicks in the wild as they are growing up in a natural condition and making themselves adaptive for the wild," he said. The parent birds, raised in captivity, will remain as breeding stock.
Experts urge patience. Monirul H. Khan, a zoology professor at Jahangirnagar University, notes that captive-raised birds lack crucial survival skills—their predators, their ability to forage, their defenses against wild animals. They also carry disease risks to wild populations. A.B.M. Sarowar Alam of the IUCN agrees that the soft-release approach is sound, but emphasizes that adequate time, post-release monitoring, and GPS tracking are essential to ensure the birds can eventually fend for themselves.
For now, the chick at Madhupur offers a small but real symbol of what conservation can accomplish. The forest department expects more hatchlings this breeding season, and with careful stewardship, Bangladesh may yet hear the wild call of the peafowl echoing through its forests again.