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Czech Project Aims to Remove Europe’s Only Known Non-Native Breeding Population of Oriental Turtle Doves

Wild Oriental turtle dove perched in Chitose, Hokkaido, Japan
Conservation · Management

A rapid-response conservation project in Czechia is aiming to remove the only confirmed non-native breeding population of Oriental Turtle Doves (Streptopelia orientalis) in Europe. IUCN announced the first cohort of projects supported by its European Invasive Alien Species Rapid-Response Fund on 13 August 2026, including the Oriental Turtle Dove project around the Nové Mlýny Reservoirs.

A small introduced population has persisted since 2012

The species is native to East Asia but has been recorded around Nové Mlýny since 2012. Early observations of ringed birds confirmed an origin from captive or introduced individuals. Continued monitoring has since documented a growing number of birds and repeated breeding attempts, and IUCN describes the population as small but established in the wild.

The project is being implemented by the South Moravian Branch of the Czech Society for Ornithology. Its objective is to remove the population before it spreads farther. Planned work includes systematic monitoring of communal roosts and breeding and non-breeding sites, preparation of baited fixed traps, use of ornithological mist nets and humane removal of captured birds in line with approved veterinary procedures. If trapping is insufficient, authorised shooting can be used in accordance with national legislation and animal-welfare requirements.

The project aims to prevent risks before impacts are demonstrated

IUCN identifies the Oriental Turtle Dove as a non-native species with invasive potential at this site. The project is particularly concerned about possible competition, hybridisation and other ecological interactions with the native European Turtle Dove (Streptopelia turtur), whose European populations have undergone marked declines. These are risks the project aims to prevent rather than ecological impacts already demonstrated at Nové Mlýny.

Sources and image credit

  1. International Union for Conservation of Nature. (2026, August 13). Conservationists in Europe are racing to stop the next invasive species before it spreads.Primary IUCN announcement of the first 20 European rapid-response projects, explicitly listing eradication of the Oriental turtle dove from its only known non-native breeding population in Europe, in the Czech Republic.
  2. IUCN Save Our Species. (2026). Eradication of the Oriental turtle dove in its only non-native location in Europe (Czech Republic).Primary project page describing the Nové Mlýny population, its captive/introduced origin, repeated breeding, project objectives and planned monitoring and removal methods.

Image: Wild Oriental Turtle Dove (Streptopelia orientalis) photographed at Chitose, Hokkaido, Japan, 27 August 2026. Photo: J. Patrick Fischer. Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0. Representative species image; not a bird from the Czech project. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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