Captive-bred vultures take wing in forest expanses

Last Updated25/07/2023

In 2020, eight critically endangered Oriental white-backed captive-bred vultures were released into the wild from the Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre in Pinjore, Haryana.
Close to three years later, five survive and two have paired and successfully nested, in the untamed habitat of the Shivalik range in the foothills of the Himalayas.
Nesting is a very important milestone and an encouraging sign for the re-induction programme
There has been no report of veterinary non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) related mortality.

The population of three species namely the Oriental white-backed, the long-billed, and the slender-billed has declined by over 97% since the 1990s.
The Oriental white-backed vulture prevalence has gone down by an astonishing 99.9%.
- In 1993 there was an estimated population of 40 million vultures in India, as per a BNHS study.
Conservation Status
- IUCN: All three species are classified as critically endangered
- Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972
The BNHS and Royal Society for Protection of Birds (RSPB) have been managing four Jatayu conservation breeding centres across the country in partnership with the State governments of Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, and Assam.
- Through this programme, the BNHS-RSPB has bred more than 700 birds in captivity since 2004.
BHMS has also started the construction of soft release centres in Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Rajasthan, and at three tiger reserves in Maharashtra.

According to IUCN, a vulture-safe zone is an area of 30,000 sq km that is declared free from the drug diclofenac
The Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) had recently recommended a ban on the use, sale, and manufacture of veterinary drugs Aceclofenac and Ketoprofen, for animal use.
- Vultures feeding on cattle carcasses treated with these drugs suffer mortality due to visceral gout and kidney failure.
A list of all drugs which affect animal health or the environment must be prepared for further action
It also recommended the constitution of a sub-committee to examine the matter in detail and submit its report to the Board.