Aim: strengthening capercaillie populations in the Cantabrian Mountains with specimen from the breeding and genetic reserve centre in Sobrescobio that have been raised for release.

Partner: each local authority will be responsible for implementing this in their region. When the release zones have been defined through preparatory action A.4., the competent bodies in charge of implementing them will be known.

Description: the special situation of the Cantabrian capercaillie means that it is advisable to start up an ex situ reproduction programme.  Since this is an endangered subspecies, wild conservation may not be enough and strengthening the population with captive specimen may be necessary to prevent extinction.

The small amount of areas where there are still specimen and their low reproduction rate, lower than the minimum population recovery threshold, makes it enormously difficult to recover isolated populations just from population centres and natural sources.

Once the release zones have been selected and the necessary work has been carried out to conserve and improve their habitat, the specimen will then be released, following the guidelines in the technical document drawn up with the in the preparatory action framework A.4. The specimen released will be tagged with a transmitter which will allow us to record their movement from the time of their release.