In Landmark Moment, 13 Critically Endangered Vultures Released In Bengal

In another landmark moment for vulture conservation in India, the third phase of the reintroduction programme of the critically endangered oriental white-backed vultures was launched this week. As forest department officials quietly lifted the gate of the release aviary at the Rajabhat Khawa Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre in West Bengal's Buxa Tiger Reserve, with the help of a pulley located in a hide 50 meters away from the aviary, 20 vultures were released in the wild as part of an effort to repopulate the ecosystem with these species.

Deputy Field Director of the Buxa Tiger Reserve, Parveen Kaswan, told NDTV, "This is the third batch of release of oriental White-backed vultures here. With this, we are happy to claim that Rajabhatkhawa centre has released the maximum number of oriental white-backed vultures in India, which is an important milestone as far as conservation of vultures in India is concerned. We are hopeful and happy about this initiative."

Of the twenty gyps vultures released at Rajabhat Khawa in West Bengal's Alipurduar on Friday, 13 are oriental white-backed vultures, and 7 are rescued himalayan griffon vultures.

All thirteen captive-bred oriental White-backed vultures are sub-adults and are fitted with satellite tags that are known as Platform Transmitter Terminal (PTT), which makes it possible to monitor the movement of these birds wherever they go. The oriental white-backed vultures are residents of West Bengal, so they are likely to remain in West Bengal itself, but may visit neighbouring states like Assam, Meghalaya, and countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan.

The himalayan griffon vultures could possibly travel to their breeding areas, which could be in Central Asia, China, or the high Himalayas. The next six months will be crucial, and the data from the transmitters will be tracked closely to get an idea of how safe the vultures are in the environment in their surroundings.

So far, 31 critically endangered captive-bred oriental white-backed vultures have been released from VCBC at Rajabhat Khawa. All of them were hatched in captivity here. The seven himalayan griffons were rescued, and were kept in captivity till their release.

The vultures released on Friday were kept in a pre-release aviary for interaction with free ranging birds, which were drawn to the outside of the pre-release aviary with food. The conservation centre hopes that the released vultures will now join the free ranging birds, and learn to defend themselves, and find food.

In India, conservation breeding of three critically endangered species of vultures -- oriental white backed vultures, long billed vultures, and slender billed vultures -- is being carried out at Pinjore in Haryana, Rajabhat Khawa in West Bengal, Rani in Assam, and Van Vihar in Madhya Pradesh. The first lot of 10 captive bred white-backed vultures were released in 2021. In July last year, the centre was able to release 10 more of them.

Officials say the released vultures could find food and water independently and there has been no drug related mortality, so far. Although they continue to be around the release aviary, and food is still being provisioned, they regularly soar and mingle with free ranging vultures. These vultures had travelled up to neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh, and also to neighbouring areas like Guwahati, Dhubri, and Barpeta in Assam, and the West Garo hills of Meghalaya after their release.

The release of the vultures has helped in locating carcass dumps in North Bengal, which were not known previously. The vultures also provide crucial information about their dependence on the wild and domestic animal carcasses. The most important information which the forest department expects to gather is about the prevalence of drugs in veterinary use.

According to estimates by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), India had a vulture population of 40 million in the 1980s, but that number dropped by more than 99 per cent in the 1990s. This was attributed to the use of an anti-inflammatory drug called diclofenac, which was routinely used to treat cattle in veterinary medicine. In 2006, India banned the use of the drug for treating cattle.