Thirty years ago, the majestic crested ibis was assumed to be extinct. Yet Liu Yinzeng disregarded that assumption, and his faith paid off when he rediscovered seven of the wild birds in northwest China's mountains. Today, the species' population exceeds 1,600. When 75-year-old Liu returned to the exact spot, 30 years after he caught sight of the majestic birds in China's Shaanxi Province, he released a domestically-bred crested ibis back into the wild.

Ibis bird [File photo]

In total, 20 crested ibis, 10 three-to-four year old couples, were released on Monday, the 30th anniversary of the rediscovery, after first being trained to live in the wild.

"I witnessed a miracle in China's protection of wildlife," Liu said.

The crested ibis (nipponia nippon), also known as the Japanese crested ibis, is large with white plumage, and before the 1930s had thrived in Japan, China, Russia and the Korean peninsula. But its population was sharply reduced due to wars, natural disasters, hunting and other human activities. It was believed to be extinct after the last five wild birds were allegedly caught and caged in Japan.

But Chinese researchers never gave up searching for the species, and after three years their determination reaped its reward on May 23, 1981, in Yaojiagou Village in Shaanxi Province.

"That night, I saw a crested ibis fly across the sky. We immediately ran after it and found a pair of crested ibis and three fluffy babies in the woods," Liu said.

Eventually, the search group found seven crested ibis on that day and the protection campaign was launched.

"The rediscovery was the last ray of hope to save the species," said Zhang Xiwu, director of Wildlife Conservation and Nature Reserve Management Division of State Forestry Administration.

But in order to save the species, a strict regiment would have to be followed.

"Employees were required to protect every baby bird and every egg around the clock. They fixed knives and protection nets around the three to protect them from snakes and other predators," said Ding Haihua, director of the Crested Ibis Nature Reserve in Hanzhong City.

Local residents were also prohibited from hunting, cutting down trees, setting off explosives in the mountains, or using fertilizers in the birds' foraging areas, Ding said.

These actions, however, only protected the birds from harm and didn't facilitate an increase of their numbers, he said.

So in 1990 the artificial breeding project was launched, and it has gone on to successfully breed seven generations of crested ibis.

"This is a successful case of protecting world-class endangered wildlife," Zhang Xiwu said.

After successfully breeding new babies, the birds were gradually released back into nature, Zhang said, and fortunately, the released birds bore babies themselves.

The success of the program demonstrates a balance between the economy and ecology, because as the birds were given special care in the reserve, residents were compensated for their economic losses due to the protective restrictions.

The nature reserve received two million yuan (308,000 U.S. dollars) to compensate local residents for the poor harvest caused by not using fertilizer in their 5,000 mu (about 300 hectare) of fields in 30 towns and villages.

Today China has two wild habitats for crested ibis and six artificial breeding bases. Wild crested ibis' numbers have reached 997, and the artificially bred population has hit 620. Added to the birds bred by Japan and the Republic of Korea, the total number of the species is 1,814.

The critically endangered crested ibis is no longer critical but remains endangered, Zhang pointed out.

"New threats to the species have emerged as the human population grows, cities expand, and pollution and climate change come into the mix, so we still need to reinforce the protection to achieve harmonious co-existence of people and the birds," he said.