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Jorhat: A pair of critically endangered white-rumped vultures was rescued by members of an NGO in a remote village in Tinsukia district on Friday. The male vulture was released today after being treated at the wildlife rescue centre at Dibru-Saikhowa.
"We had to release the two vultures immediately as the pair had chicks in a tall tree they had nested at Makum Hatijan village under Doomdooma police station," Gunadhar Konwar, director of Evergreen Earth, the NGO, told The Telegraph today.
Konwar said the female vulture could not be released today, as it had not recovered. "We have sent it back to the rescue centre. But we managed to release the male," he said.
To the delight of the NGO members and the local villagers, the male vulture was seen feeding the chick in the nest about half an hour after it was released. Local villagers had informed the members of the NGO on Friday morning after they spotted the two vultures on paddy fields near the tree.
"Both the vultures had probably consumed a carcass laced with poison," Konwar said. The two vultures were taken to the animal rescue centre at Dibru-Saikhowa where a veterinarian treated them. "The two vultures were administered saline and were forced to vomit. Both the vultures recovered yesterday and we decided to release them near the place from where they were found," Konwar said.
Subsequently, the two vultures were taken to the place for release but unfortunately the female fell ill again and could not fly.
"We sent the female back to the rescue centre for further treatment and released the male," Konwar said.
He said the male vulture flew away immediately and vanished but returned to its nest about half an hour later. "We witnessed the vulture feeding the chick at the nest. It was a touching sight," the Evergeen Earth director said.
He said had the vulture not been released today, the chicks in the nest would have died. "We will release the female vulture as soon as it recovers," Konwar said. He said the local villagers had provided a helping hand during the entire exercise and it was only because of them that the operation was possible. "Had we not been informed immediately, the two vultures would have died."
India has lost 99.9 per cent of white-rumped vultures over the past 15 years and the population could be down to a few 100 birds or less across the whole country in less than a decade, scientists from the Bombay Natural History Society and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and other UK institutions had warned a few years back.
Research has shown a 98 per cent decline in vulture population in Southeast Asia owing to the consumption of Diclofenac-treated livestock carcasses. Seven vultures, including three critically endangered slender-billed ones, died after consuming a carcass of a cow at Lajunpathar in Tinsukia district a few months back. The Bombay Natural History Society has been spreading awareness to protect vultures, which are facing extinction mainly because of "illegal" use of veterinary drug Diclofenac.
A society has started spreading awareness in six districts of Upper Assam and parts of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh with Majuli island as the core area to release the vultures, which are at present being hand-raised at the Vulture Conservation and Breeding Centre in Rani near Guwahati.
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