Maharashtra Forest Department, with the help of Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre (VCBC), Pinjore and Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), will release 20 White-backed and Long-billed vultures, currently in captivity, into the wild at Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR) in the next 4-5 days. A joint team of Maharashtra Forest Department and BNHS is currently in VCBC Pinjore to bring these 20 vultures and as per the information, the team will arrive at Nagpur in the next 2-3 days. As per the information received by the sources, “Ten pairs each of the scavengers will be released in PTR, Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR), and Melghat Tiger Reserve (MTR) in the next few months.” “Releasing this endangered species after breeding is a good initiative by the Government. The first 10 pairs of vultures will be released in PTR and we are on our way to get them to Nagpur,” a senior official told ‘The Hitavada’. Government of India has established four Vulture Conservation and Breeding Centres at West Bengal, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Assam.

 

These four VCBCs in the country acheived success in conservation and breeding 750 vultures of three species -- White-backed, Long-billed and Slender-billed -- from looming extinction. Government of India has started releasing these vultures in wild since 2020. Eight critically endangered Oriental White-backed vultures were released into the wild for the first time in Haryana. Close to three years later, five survived and two have paired and successfully nested in the habitat of the Shivalik range in the foothills of the Himalayas. After the success story of Haryana, the Government released 31 Oriental white-backed vultures in batches in West Bengal in 2021. “We have initiated this campaign in 2020 where we released 8 in Haryana and then 31 in West Bengal.

 

Except one, all released vultures are doing well and some of them travelled to Bhutan and Nepal also,” said Kishor Rithe, Honorary Secretary, BNHS. “It is the first time when the government has decided to release the highest 20 pairs of vultures in wild and it is going to be happen in Maharashtra itself,” said Rithe. The PTR management has already completed the construction of vulture aviary whereas the preparation is under way in TATR and MTR. It is a collaborative initiative to save the three species of vultures from looming extinction. The government got tremendous success in this and as a result Maharashtra will also get these critically endangered species in the next few days.