The wattled curassow is afforded some degree of protection in the Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve in Brazil, although it nevertheless continues to be hunted there, and Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve in Peru. A temporary hunting ban has been implemented in Bolivia in order to secure the future of local hunting stocks by allowing the population to recover, and this has reportedly had some success (2). It has been proposed that governments and nature reserves develop and help encourage ecotourism as an alternative means of income and subsistence for local people, and as a source of sustainable development for the country (2) (6). To this end, Asociación Armonía, the BirdLife International partner in Bolivia, is channelling funds into the development of a small scale ecotourism project in San Marcos in Bolivia, where the only remaining population of wattled curassows in the country is found (8) (9). Asociación Armonía has worked closely in conjunction with the local community of San Marcos to ensure that vital Bolivian populations are preserved (8). The area around this species has been petitioned as an ‘indigenous territory’, and there is now a boat to the area for tourism, with plans for a lodge, and trained guides, cooks etc. by 2007 (9). Similar initiatives in other range nations could significantly help the recovery of this species.
A reasonable-sized population is held in captivity but individuals are becoming increasingly scarce. Thus, the captive population in the US is managed by an AZA studbook held by Houston Zoo to minimise inbreeding (5). Captive populations provide potential for future reintroductions into the wild, but this is unlikely until a safer environment exists, in which reintroduced individuals would have a fair chance of survival.