Twenty-five ostriches were brought from Africa to Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute (BLRI) in Savar under a seven-year research project designed to determine whether the non-native birds could adapt to Bangladesh and assess their potential for production and reproduction.
Seven years later, 15 have been deliberately slaughtered as part of the research, seven have died from serious leg injuries and only three remain alive.
The outcome has raised a broader question: what did the project establish about the long-term potential of ostrich farming in Bangladesh?
Project documents and interviews with researchers and experts show that the answer is not straightforward.
Why were the ostriches slaughtered?
BLRI brought the 25 ostriches in two batches at a cost of about Tk5 lakh as part of its Strengthening of Poultry Research and Development Project.
The slaughter of 15 birds was a planned component of the research, rather than simply a means of disposing of the animals.
Researchers slaughtered birds at five different ages — three, six, nine, 12 and 18 months — to examine meat quality, nutritional value and other characteristics as the birds matured.
The research also examined feed requirements, health, adaptation, productivity and reproductive performance.
Khondkar Touhidul Islam, a PhD student working under BLRI Chief Scientific Officer Dr Md Sazedul Karim Sarker, said the study aimed to generate basic data on raising ostriches in Bangladesh.
Researchers collected information on the birds’ feed intake, protein requirements, growth, health, adaptation and ability to reproduce.
“For a foreign species, it takes considerable time to establish how well it can adapt and perform here,” Touhidul said.
Project Director Sarker said the research generated findings on ostrich adaptation, feed, health, reproduction and production potential.
He estimated that the ostrich component achieved about 85% of its objectives, while saying further research is still needed.
Seven birds died
The fate of the other birds was less predictable.
Seven ostriches died while being treated for serious leg injuries.
Ostriches are large, fast-running birds, making leg health particularly important when they are raised outside their natural habitat.
Project records list these deaths separately from the 15 birds deliberately slaughtered for research.
According to the documents reviewed, veterinary health certificates were also obtained before the birds used in the study were slaughtered.
Three ostriches remain alive and are expected to be kept for future research or a possible follow-up program.
Their survival could be important because one limitation of the original research was the difficulty of establishing long-term reproductive performance.
The ostriches laid eggs during the study, but none survived to produce offspring.
Did the research establish commercial potential?
This is where the project's broader objective becomes more difficult to assess.
Professor and wildlife researcher Dr Kamrul Hasan said slaughtering animals can be a legitimate part of scientific research when samples are needed to answer specific research questions.
“There is nothing unusual about such sampling in itself,” he said.
However, he said the significance of the slaughter should be assessed against the original objectives of the research.
If the study was intended to assess meat quality, slaughtering birds at different ages would be a normal research method.
But if the broader objective was to determine whether ostriches could be commercially farmed in Bangladesh, meat quality would be only one part of the equation.
Researchers would also need to establish whether the birds can reproduce successfully, remain healthy over the long term, adapt to local conditions and produce meat or other products at a cost that makes commercial farming viable.
The lack of surviving offspring therefore leaves an important gap in assessing the species' long-term reproductive potential in Bangladesh.
These questions matter because Bangladesh does not have an established commercial ostrich farming industry comparable to that of some other countries.
Part of a much larger project
The ostrich research was only one component of a larger seven-year BLRI project that ran from July 2019 to June 2026.
The wider Strengthening of Poultry Research and Development Project covered eight poultry species — chicken, duck, goose, turkey, guinea fowl, pigeon, quail and ostrich — and examined areas including breeding, feed, disease management and processing.
The ostrich component has attracted particular attention because the number of birds declined sharply during the research period.
BLRI officials say the project generated useful baseline data and infrastructure that can support further research.
The three surviving ostriches could also allow researchers to continue studying adaptation and reproduction, particularly if they can be successfully bred and their offspring monitored.
So, while the project has generated baseline information on raising ostriches in Bangladesh, whether that information is enough to establish the species' long-term commercial viability remains an open question.
After seven years, the 25 birds have produced research data, but not yet a clear answer on whether ostrich farming can become a viable commercial enterprise in Bangladesh.