Lok Sabha Question No. 1070 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-11-22
Subject: Extinction of Vultures
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Pratima Mondal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 1070

TO BE ANSWERED ON 22.11.2019

## Extinction of Vultures

## 1070. SHRIMATI PRATIMA MONDAL:

Will  the  Minister  of  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND  CLIMATE  CHANGE  be  pleased  to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware that vultures are close to extinction in the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken to protect them;
- (c) the details of centres that ensure the task of protecting vultures in the country;
- (d) whether the Government has conducted any programme/census for vulture count;
- (e) if so, the details thereof, State/ UT-wise; and
- (f) if not, the time by which the Government is likely to start such programme/census?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)

- (a)  and (b) Decline in the Vultures populations in the Country was first noticed in the mid nineties  and  by  the  year  2007,  there was  a  99%  decline  in  the  population  of three  resident  Gyps  species  of  Vultures.  By  the  year  2011,  the  population started  getting  stabilized  though  the  population  was still  small  in  size. By  the year 2015, it was noticed that the White-backed Vulture population was stable but the population of Long-billed Vulture was still declining.

The steps taken by Government for protection and conservation of Vultures in the country includes:

- i. Protection  status  of  White  backed,  Long  Billed  and  Slender  Billed Vultures has been upgraded from Schedule IV to Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
- ii. To conserve the remnant population of vultures in the country and also to  facilitate  the  reintroduction  of  vultures  into  the  wild  from  Vulture Conservation  Breeding  Centres  (VCBCs),  attempts  are  being  made  to create Vulture Safe Zones  in the areas where  there are vulture

populations. The area in a radius of 100 km around the VCBCs is made secure by community participation by ensuring that there is no use of vulture toxic veterinary NSAID's, there is enough food and habitat and there is  no  other  threat  to  vultures.  This  is  done  by  targeted  advocacy and awareness programme.

- iii. There are eight (08) identified vulture safe zones in the Country which includes  Pinjore  in  Haryana,  Rajabhatkhawa  in  West  Bengal,  around Majuli  Island  in  Assam,  Bukswaha in Bundelkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Dudhwa  National  Park  and  Katerniaghat  Wildlife  Sanctuary  in  Uttar Pradesh,  Hazaribagh  in  Jharkhand,  Central  Gujarat  and  Saurashtra  in Gujarat.
- iv. The Ministry has also taken initiatives to strengthen the mass education and awareness for vulture conservation in the Country.
- v. The Government of India has formulated a National Action Plan (2006) on  Vulture  Conservation.   The  Action  Plan  provides  for  strategies, actions for containing the decline of vulture population through ex-situ, in-situ vulture conservation.
- vi. The  Government  of  India  banned  the  veterinary  use  of  the  drug 'Diclofenac' which was found to be the cause of vulture mortality and crash in vulture population.
- vii. The  Government  of  India  also  restricted  the  packaging  size  of  the human formulation of the diclofenac drug to 3ml in July 2015 to prevent the misuse of multi-dose vials available in 30 ml presentation in treating cattle.
- viii. Department of forests of all states/UTs has been requested to constitute a  Monitoring  committee  for  vulture  conservation  with  a  view  to implement  the  Action  Plan,  2006  and  for  recovery  of  existing  vulture sites.
- ix. The  Ministry  has  initiated  the  Vulture  reintroduction  programme.  As part  of  it,  two  Himalayan  Griffon  Vultures  were  released  from  the Vulture Breeding Centre, Pinjore, Haryana in the year 2016.
- x. The Ministry has reconstituted the 'National Vulture Recovery Committee'  to  oversee  and  guide  vulture  conservation  and  recovery efforts at the National Level.
- xi. Testing  of  'Non  Steroidal  Anti-Inflammatory  Drugs'  (NSAID's)  on Vultures ( Gyps spp .) is being carried out by Indian Veterinary Research Institute  (IVRI),  Uttar  Pradesh  with  support  from  the  Ministry  and

Bombay Natural History Society.

- xii. The  species has  been  identified  for  conservation  efforts  under  the component 'Species Recovery Programme' of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme  (CSS)  -  Development  of  Wildlife  Habitat.  Financial  and technical assistance is provided to the State/ Union Territory Governments under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Development of Wildlife  Habitat  for  providing  better  protection  to  Vultures  and  its habitat.
2. (c ) For Ex-situ conservation of vultures, eight (08) Vulture Conservation Breeding Centres were established in the different States of the country.

Four of the centres,  Pinjore in Haryana (established in 2004), Rajabhatkhawa (established in 2006) in West Bengal, Rani in Assam (established in 2009) and Kerwa  near  Bhopal  (established  in  2008)  are   managed    by  respective  State Forest  Departments  with  support  from  Bombay  Natural  History  Society  and Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

Four more centres i.e. Junagarh in Gujarat (established 2006), Nandankanan in Orissa  (established  2006),  Hyderabad  in  Telangana  (established  2006)  and Muta in  Ranchi  are  established  in  the  State  Zoos  and  are  being  run  by  State Forest Department  with support from Central Zoo  Authority (CZA)  of MoEF&CC and technical support from Bombay Natural History Society.

As per the  information received from  Bombay  Natural  History  Society,  there are a  total  of  731  birds  of  the  three  species  housed  at  the  8  different  Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre of which 396 have fledged at the centres. All the three  species  have  bred  at  the  centres.  The  Jatayu  Conservation  Breeding Centre, Pinjore has the maximum number of 333 birds.

- (d), (e) and (f) Nation-wide vulture surveys are carried out by Bombay Natural History Society every four year sponsored by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Forest Departments of various States since 1990. The surveys are carried out mainly for three species of critically endangered resident Gyps vultures, White-backed Vulture, Long-billed Vulture and Slender-billed Vulture.   These  three  species  were  very  common  in  the  Country  with  an estimated population of  40 million in early eighties.  Based on the latest survey carried out in the year 2015 and the results published in 2017,  there were about 6000  White-backed  Vultures,  12000  Long-billed  Vultures  and  1000  Slenderbilled Vultures.

As  per  the  information  received  from  Bombay  Natural  History  Society,  the State  Forest  Departments  of  Gujarat  and  Madhya  Pradesh  have  carried  out systematic  monitoring  of vulture populations in their states. The  Forest Department of Gujarat in collaboration with the Gujarat Ecological Education and  Research  Foundation,  an  autonomous  organisation  of  Gujarat  Forest  and Environment Department of Government of Gujarat has been carrying out the monitoring since the year 2005. The most recent vulture population estimation in Gujarat State was carried out in early June 2018.  A decline of 75.8% in the Gyps vulture population was recorded in the State between 2005 and 2018.

In the State of Madhya Pradesh, the population monitoring of vultures has been carried out by the State  Forest Department during 2017-18 and 2018-19. The surveys were   coordinated by Madhya Pradesh Forest Department and Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal with support from NGOs, NGIs etc. As per the census of the year 2019, a total of 7970 vultures of seven species were sighted giving a 12% increase in the total populations

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