Edwards’s pheasant  (Lophura edwardsi)

Widespread and relentless destruction of Edwards’s pheasant’s habitat has left this species teetering on the brink of extinction, its perilous position exacerbated by hunting pressure (6). Vietnam’s lowland primary forest has now almost been completely stripped away as a result of herbicide spraying during the Vietnam War, and more recently by commercial logging and clearance for agriculture (5) (6). The last remaining forests known to support this pheasant are becoming progressively degraded by wood-cutters (6), and are vulnerable to commercial logging, firewood collection, charcoal production and the continued clearance of land for cultivation (7). It is thought that the completion of the Ho Chi Minh National Highway, which bisects the three provinces in which the species is known to occur, will only serve to increase the levels of disturbance. Hunting for food poses an additional threat, and this endangered pheasant is likely to be affected by indiscriminate snaring (6).

The areas in which there are recent records for Edwards’s pheasant have been incorporated into two recently established nature reserves, Phong Dien and Dakrong, which are likely to be the last refuges for the species (6) (9). Bach Ma National Park lies within the historical range of this species, and a poster campaign to obtain local information was conducted there in 1996 and 1997, but as yet there have been no confirmed records from this park. In December 2003, the captive population numbered 1033 individuals (6). A studbook was first developed in the 1960s, and abandoned in the 1970s owing to lack of resources, but efforts were renewed in the 1990s (7), and an international studbook now helps coordinate breeding to ensure that the captive population stays genetically healthy (5). Although there have been problems with inbreeding and hybridisation in captivity, screening is thankfully helping eliminate hybrids from much of the captive stock (6). Having long been thought extinct (5), Edwards’s pheasant now clings to a precarious existence, and it is imperative that the rampant deforestation is stopped, and conservation efforts kept up, if this rare pheasant is to be saved from the very real possibility of extinction it now faces (6).