Posts by Irene Sabiniarz

A paper published in the current issue of Science of the Total Environment (here) confirms that the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), nimesulide, is toxic to vultures, following safety testing of the drug on vultures in South Africa. Since the banning of veterinary diclofenac, the NSAID which drove three species of Gyps vultures to near-extinction in…

SAVE announces the addition of BirdLife International as its latest member, and Core Partner. BirdLife has always been closely associated and supportive of SAVE, but this fully recognises the important role it plays. Vinayagan Dharmarajah, the Asia regional director (and long-term vulture fan) based in Singapore has become increasingly involved in various aspects of SAVE…

The recovery of populations of two Critically Endangered vulture species in Nepal is linked directly to progress in removing the toxic drug diclofenac from veterinary use in Nepal’s Vulture Safe Zone (VSZ). Action in this VSZ has raised public awareness about the hazard posed to vultures by the toxic non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug when it is…

The Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Bhupender Yadav,  awarded Dr Vibhu Prakash of the Bombay Natural History Society the Directors Prani Mitra Award 2021 for his role in vulture conservation. The award is for the ex-situ work in particular, and was made in the presence of Shri Kiritsinh Rana, Hon’ble Minister…

A new policy summary highlighting the key actions needed for conserving India’s vultures has been agreed between the Indian SAVE Partners with support from SAVE. It highlights those key actions detailed for India in the SAVE Blueprint https://save-vultures.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SAVE-Blueprint-2019.pdf – but also lists key facts and figures together with the critical references drawn upon in this 8-sides…

Contributed by BANCA A conservation action plan for vultures in Myanmar has just been finalised, signalling a revitalisation of efforts to protect vultures by government and conservationists in the country. Myanmar is one of the last remaining strongholds for vultures in South-east Asia, where hunting and habitat in particular have devastated the carrion-base on which…

Between 4th and 6th November 2019, the ninth annual meeting of the Saving Asia’s Vultures from Extinction (SAVE) consortium took place near to the Haryana ‘Jatayu Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre’ in India. 40 attendees, representing all six range countries, Chief Wildlife Wardens from Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and West Bengal, the Indian Veterinary Research Institute, and…

Having released the first captive-bred vultures in the world in 2018, on October 19th 2019 the Government of Nepal, Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN) and other national and international conservation organisations released a further 13 White-rumped Vultures Gyps bengalensis into the wild – six were captive-bred juveniles, and seven were slightly older captive-reared birds. Early in…

Nepal was the first country to release captive-reared and captive-bred Critically Endangered White-rumped Vultures into the wild, and this October a further 13 birds (seven captive-reared and six captive-bred) are due for release at Pithauli, Nawalparasi district. The birds are currently building up their strength and assimilating with wild vultures in the pre-release aviary at…

A three-day workshop called by the IUCN Vulture Specialist Group (VSG) and hosted 20-22 August by the International Centre for Birds of Prey, Newent UK successfully brought together 15 of the world’s leading tagging experts, from nine countries, plus a further ten vulture experts including from South Asia. There were key presentations by Dr Rory…