The Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre in Pinjore has reason to celebrate: The Centre’s first slender-billed nestling is now 140 days old and ready to fledge.
With fewer than 1,000 slender-billed vultures left, this event marks a triumphant milestone in VCBC’s captive breeding program. And there’s more good news: A slender-billed nestling hatched at Rajabhatkhawa Centre in West Bengal has recently fledged.
In a recent release from vulturerescue.org, the director of Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), Dr. Asad R. Rahmani said
The hatching of this endangered species has given us more confidence in the husbandry and care of vultures practiced at our centres.
It was also noted by Dr. Vibhu Prakash, Principal Scientist and Head of Vulture Conservation Breeding Programme that slender-billed vultures represented a unique challenge to the breeding program.
Slender-billed Vultures were never kept in captivity earlier and have not been studied much in the wild. So it was a big challenge to house and breed them in captivity. This successful
breeding in captivity is a big step forward in saving this highly endangered species.
Vultures perched on the edge of extinction
The vulture population in India witnessed catastrophic decline from 40 million to just 60,000, victims of poisoning by the now-banned drug diclofenac.
There are now three critically endangered species of Gyps vultures:
- White-backed/White-rumped Vulture (Gyps bengalensis)
- Slender-billed Vulture (Gyps tenuirostris)
- Indian Vulture/Long-billed Vulture (Gyps indicus)
Because of the inextricable role of vulture’s in India’s ecosystem, this disaster has also been linked to the spread of rabies in humans.
India’s captive breeding program is the last hope for these majestic raptors.
Here’s to the continued success of the Vulture Conservation Breeding Center!
Image credit: Dr. Vibhu Prakesh, Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS)
About Rhishja Cota-Larson
