Two individual Long Billed Vultures, which were kept in aviary in Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR), Maharashtra and released into the wild, have completed 15 months in the wild successfully and have now settled in the forests of Madhya Pradesh. Both vultures brought a big hope for vulture conservation in India when the species is struggling for existence in its natural habitat. Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), working on conservation breeding of vultures in India for the last 25 years, recorded this success story.

 

BNHS has established India’s first conservation breeding centre at Pinjore in Haryana with the help from the Haryana Forest Department, Ministry of Environment and Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and the Royal Society of Protection for Birds (RSPB). Both vultures were born on January 27, 2020 in the closed aviary of Pinjore of Haryana and reared by their parents.

 

They were brought to PTR in Maharashtra in January 2020 along with the 10 other Long billed Vultures for releasing in the wild. It was the firstsuch experiment that took place in Maharashtra with the help of BNHS. BNHS and PTR administration trained the vultures for six months and released them on August 10, 2024. “It has brought a big hope for the vulture conservation in India,” said Kishor Rithe, Director, BNHS. Manan Singh, a biologist working with BNHS, had deployed his team to monitor the released birds in the last 15 months.

 

“These birds were named N-01 and N-24. Following their release in Pench, N-24 demonstrated exceptional adaptability by locating and feeding on a tiger kill within PTR just 12 days after release. Since then, it has been observed feeding on both provisioned food and wild kills made by the carnivores in PTR, Mah and PTR, MP on numerous occasions,” said Manan Singh. Singh stated further that N-24 flew into Pench MP very early in its life in the wild and has since ventured into adjoining areas of Chhindwara and Balaghat districts, covering distances of up to 50 km, and currently resides in Pench, MP and frequently roosts at sites such as Alikatta and Khawasa”. N-24 has also been observed roosting with another captive-bred vulture, N-01, on several nights. “We are waiting for the day when N-24 may form pair with N-01,” said Singh. It was sad to see that remaining birds could not survive but the survival of these two individuals in the last 15 months has shown that the captivity bred and parent reared Vultures can survive in the wild, said Rithe. “This is not the only story, BNHS has released 31 birds in West Bengal, 25 in Pinjore Haryana along with the 20 birds in Maharashtra”. There are several birds who are surviving in the wild and learning to overcome the threats, Rithe added.