Return flight

Rare vulture species have been spotted on the Punjab-Himachal border; now, it8217;s a question of restoring their habitat.

While vultures are being bred in captivity at Pinjore in Haryana and the veterinary drug Diclofenac is being banned across the country, there is good news from a relatively unobserved quarter. Rare vulture species, including the white-backed that had been declared 8220;endangered8221; have been spotted in flocks of dozens on the Punjab-Himachal border, along the Shiwalik range.

As of now, the Bombay Natural History Society BNHS is breeding three species in captivity iquest; white-backed, slender-billed and long-billed. These figure in Schedule-1 of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Following the near wipeout of vultures due to the indiscriminate use of Diclofenac that causes gut failure in the scavengers, all eyes are set on the breeding initiative at Pinjore.

Honorary wildlife warden Sukhdeep Singh Bajwa says more than 300 birds were spotted since last year in Pathankot and Hoshiarpur8217;s Dhar area but more efforts are needed to revive the numbers. 8220;It is an encouraging sign that the rare species are being spotted. I have sent a comprehensive report to the higher authorities,8221; he says, calling for strict implementation of the ban on diclofenac and preservation of the bird8217;s habitat. The signs, he adds, are very encouraging, given that chicks have been spotted alongside adult birds.

8220;The sighting of white-backed vultures is an encouraging sign,8221; agrees Dr Vibhu Prakash, principal scientist at BNHS who has been studying the decline of the vulture population in the past few decades.

The Shiwaliks, Bajwa explains, have always been a natural habitat for the scavengers, given their rich flora and fauna. 8220;There was a time when the raptors ruled the sky here but it is the rarest sight today.8221;

The worry runs down to the administration. 8220;These scavengers used to eat away carcasses, which now rot for days, leading to environmental and health hazards,8221; says government veterinary officer Dr Tejbir Singh Sandhu. The disappearance of the vulture, the last link in the food chain, would cause major problems for public health, he adds.

Deputy Chief Warden, Wildlife Punjab, Gurmit Singh says the sighting of rare vultures is good news and that efforts were being made to ensure the numbers rose. 8220;To set up the infrastructure to protect these birds needed lot of funds but we have no major financial back up. But no doubt, there is urgent need to protect these birds, which are perhaps the last of the flocks in the sub-continent.8221;