Vultures In India

Vultures In India

Subject: Environment

Context- Locals found the dead bodies of more than 95 Himalayan griffon vultures and a steppe eagle in the Chaiygaon area of Milanpur village in Assam’s Kamrup district March 17, 2022.

Concept-

About Vultures:

• It is one of the 22 species of large carrion-eating birds that live predominantly in the tropics and subtropics.
• They act an important function as nature’s garbage collectors and help to keep the environment clean of waste.
• Vultures also play a valuable role in keeping wildlife diseases in check.
• India is home to 9 species of Vulture namely the Oriental white-backed, Long-billed, Slender-billed, Himalayan, Red-headed, Egyptian, Bearded, Cinereous and the Eurasian Griffon.
  • Most of these 9 species face danger of extinction.
• Bearded, Long-billed, Slender-billed, Oriental white-backed are protected in the Schedule-1 of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972. Rest are protected under ‘Schedule IV’.

Vulture Conservation: Vulture Action Plan 2020-25:

• The Ministry for Environment, Forests and Climate Change launched a Vulture Action Plan 2020-25 for the conservation of vultures in the country.
• It will ensure minimum use of Diclofenac and prevent the poisoning of the principal food of vultures, the cattle carcasses.
• The Vulture Safe Zone programme is being implemented at eight different places in the country where there were extant populations of vultures, including two in Uttar Pradesh.
• To upscaling conservation four rescue centres will be opened like
  • Pinjore in the north,
  • Bhopal in central India,
  • Guwahati in Northeast and
  • Hyderabad in South India.
• To study the cause of deaths of vultures in India, a Vulture Care Centre (VCC) was set up at Pinjore, Haryana in 2001.
  • Later in 2004, the VCC was upgraded to being the first Vulture Conservation and Breeding Centre (VCBC) in India.
• At present, there are nine Vulture Conservation and Breeding Centres (VCBC) in India, of which three are directly administered by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS).

More: https://optimizeias.com/action-plan-for-vulture-conservation-for-2020-2025/