Source: The Hindu
Context: In a world-first milestone, five captive-bred Slender-billed Vultures along with five White-rumped Vultures were released into the wild using the “Soft Release” scientific method in the Biswanath Wildlife Division of Kaziranga National Park, Assam.
Slender-billed Vulture (Gyps tenuirostris)
An Old World scavenger bird of prey of the family Accipitridae. Once considered a subspecies of the Indian Vulture under the name Long-billed Vulture, it is now classified as a distinct species native to South Asia and parts of Southeast Asia.
| Aspect | Detail |
|---|---|
| IUCN status | Critically Endangered |
| Habitat | Savannas, open arid landscapes, dry deciduous forests and river valleys, primarily at lower elevations; avoids dense human habitation but visits slaughterhouses and garbage dumps for carrion |
| Distribution | Sub-Himalayan regions of northern and eastern India (notably Assam), Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Cambodia |
Key features: an unfeathered, narrow, elongated black head and long skinny black neck, giving a scruffy appearance; a distinct shiny, slender beak adapted for deep carcass feeding; dark brown, light brown and beige plumage with cream-coloured feathering on the legs visible in flight.
White-rumped Vulture (Gyps bengalensis)
The smallest of the Old World Gyps vultures, native to South and Southeast Asia. Formerly among the most abundant large birds of prey in the world during the 1980s, its global population collapsed by over 99% within two decades due to veterinary drug toxicity.
| Aspect | Detail |
|---|---|
| IUCN status | Critically Endangered |
| Habitat | Highly adaptable — open landscapes, grasslands, open deciduous forests, agricultural areas; uniquely adapted to live close to human settlements and slaughterhouse grounds |
| Distribution | Northern and central India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and localised pockets of Southeast Asia |
Key features:
- Signature white patch on the lower back/rump and underwing coverts, visible in flight or when stretching wings.
- Overall dark/black plumage with a whitish downy ruff or collar at the base of the neck.
- 12 tail feathers, against 14 in most other Gyps species.
- Lethal drug vulnerability — highly susceptible to renal failure from consuming livestock carcasses treated with NSAIDs such as diclofenac, aceclofenac, ketoprofen and nimesulide.
The Vulture Crisis
- The 99% collapse was traced to diclofenac, used to treat cattle. Vultures feeding on treated carcasses suffered visceral gout and kidney failure. India banned veterinary diclofenac in 2006, and later ketoprofen and aceclofenac; meloxicam is the approved vulture-safe alternative.
- Why it mattered beyond the birds: vultures removed millions of tonnes of carcass waste. Their disappearance allowed feral dog and rat populations to expand, raising rabies incidence and carcass-borne disease — one of the most cited examples of a collapsed ecosystem service with direct human health and economic cost.
- Conservation framework: the Action Plan for Vulture Conservation (2020–2025); Vulture Conservation Breeding Centres (Pinjore in Haryana, Rajabhatkhawa in West Bengal, Rani in Assam and others) run with the Bombay Natural History Society; Vulture Safe Zones; and Schedule I protection under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
