Gyps Vultures

Gyps Vultures

Project Animal(s) : Gyps Vultures
Project Category : Birds
Project Region : Asia
Project Type : Conservation
Project URL : http://www.bnhs.org/content-details/gyps-vultures-write-up
Project is timebound? : No

BNHS, with the help of the Government of India, State Forest Departments and Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, has scripted a success story in the conservation of Gyps Vultures namely Oriental White-backed Vulture Gyps bengalensis, Long-billed Vulture Gyps indicus and Slender-billed Vulture Gyps tenuirostris.

The Gyps Vultures faced near-extinction owing to the use of diclofenac in treating livestock. Responding to BNHS campaign against the drug, the Government of India banned its veterinary use in the country in 2006.

BNHS manages four breeding centres dedicated for Gyps Vultures:

  • Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre, Pinjore, Haryana
  • Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre, Rajabhatkhawa, West Bengal
  • Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre, Rani, Assam
  • Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

Centre highlights: aviaries, surgery and recovery rooms, incubator and brooder facilities, laboratory, food processing room, interpretation centre. Every year sees new fledglings and the stage is set for the Vultures to be integrated into the wild. In-situ conservation study zones, Vulture Safe Zones (VSZs), have been set up in parts of Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh for the Vultures in the wild, where BNHS closely monitors 100 km of each zone to ensure that the food and habitats available for the vultures are sufficient and safe.

Project Agency : Bombay Natural History Society

Project Agency Contact : http://bnhs.org/bnhs/index.php