Van Vihar gets 15 pairs of vultures from Haryana

BHOPAL: Fifteen new pairs of vultures were brought to the state capital on Thursday from Jatayu Breeding and Conservation Centre, Pinjore, in Haryana. They will be kept at Van Vihar's vulture conservation centre in Kerwa for breeding and will be released in their natural habitat after it.
Faced with the prospect of extinction of vultures, forest officials in the state capital have embarked on a project for introduction and breeding of the natural scavengers.Van Vihar National Park has developed a breeding centre for vultures in the jungles near Kerwa. To save them from extinction, eight breeding and procreation centres have been established in the country, including the one in Bhopal that was set up in 2011.
Among the new pairs of vultures that reached the city include 10 pairs of long billed vultures and five white-backed vultures.
All of them are of above five years of age. Earlier too, 15 pairs of vultures were brought from Haryana in April 2015 and 10 pairs in June 2016.
Vultures have significant role in prevention of diseases due to animal carcasses. They are also helpful in environmental balance.
Currently, the Bombay Natural History Society is looking after the project for conservation and breeding, which has evoked good response so far.
"To study about the vultures and know what is hampering their population, an information centre has also been set up at Vulture Conservation Centre, Bhopal," said a Van Vihar National Park official. Vultures at the breeding centre are fed on meat and are under strict surveillance of scientists and workers taking care of them, he added.
Earlier, Madhya Pradesh forest department along with Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM) and other agencies had launched a survey for census of vultures across the state from October 2015 to May 2016.