BHOPAL: The ‘Vulture State’ Madhya Pradesh has, for the first time, GPS tagged and released into the wild, six captive-bred vultures of Indian resident varieties – a development which holds the key to successful wilding (hard release) of more captive-bred vultures in future.
The six GPS-tagged vultures, from the two Indian resident varieties – two White-Rumped and four Long-Billed Vultures (three males and three females aged between 4 and 8 years) – were released in the wild on Wednesday early morning near the Halali Dam in Raisen district of central MP.
The six captive-bred vultures released in the wild are among 85-plus captively bred Indian resident species vultures, which have been housed at the Vulture Conservation and Breeding Centre, which has been the nucleus of the state's dedicated vulture conservation-breeding program since 2014. The Centre is in a collaborative initiative of the MP Forest Department and the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) near the Kerwa Dam in Bhopal.
“Through the GPS tags fit the six Indian resident species vulture, we’re keeping a round-the-clock tab on their behavioural and movement patterns, as well as their coexistence with other vultures in the area," Van Vihar National Park-Bhopal director Avdhesh Meena told TNIE on Friday.
"Halali Dam near the trijunction of Bhopal-Vidisha and Raisen districts has emerged among the most preferred habitats of Indian resident and migratory species vultures, as per the findings of the recent winter vulture census in the state,” Meena added.
“Though just early days since their release, the captive-bred vultures in the first three days of their hard release (wilding) have been found to be moving in a 1 km radius from the spot where they were released. We’re continuously monitoring them and distributing educational pamphlets in villages of the area," said Meena.
The pamphlets contain pictures of the six vultures and their GPS tags. The villagers have been urged to inform the forest department in case any of the vultures are found injured or located for a long time at one place only, to ensure proper safety of the vultures.
The vultures are being regularly tracked at the cattle carcass dumping site of a big gaushala (cowshed) in the area – which has been among the prime reasons for the area emerging as an ideal habitat of wild vultures in the state. "In the long run, the GPS tagging of the six vultures will particularly help us in observing which part of the country is best suited for them, is it their home state MP or other parts of India."
This first-of-its kind hard release (GPS tagging and wilding) of captive bred vultures in central India, happened 18 days after a one year old Eurasian Griffon male vulture (rescued from the state’s Vindhya region in January) which was housed at the vulture conservation-breeding centre in Bhopal for two months, was rewilded with GPS satellite tag on March 29 in the same area where the six Indian resident species vultures have been released on April 16.
“That Eurasian Griffon vulture which was severely dehydrated when rescued in January, seems to be on an amazing journey back to home (Eurasia). In the 21 days since its release, it has flown more than 2500-plus kms and is currently tracked near the Afghanistan-Uzbekistan border,” Meena informed.