The 13th global CoP of CMS was hosted by India this week and strongly featured vultures. Prime Minister Narendra Modi even mentioned vultures in his inauguration speech. There were three vulture side events and other presentations featuring poisoning and vulture themes. Diclofenac and NSAIDs One side-event entitled: “Veterinary drugs and the CMS Vulture Multi-species Action…

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…

Six rehabilitated Himalayan Griffon Vultures were successfully released from a release aviary in West Bengal, a few km from the Rajabhatkhawa Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre by state Minister of Forests and Biodiversity, Mr Rajib Banarjee yesterday! Chris Bowden, the Saving Asia’s Vultures from Extinction (SAVE) and RSPB’s Vulture Programme Manager said “All six are marked…

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…

Vulture experts and Government officials met in Kolkata in September to agree the outline of an updated National Vulture Action Plan. Inspector General (Wildlife) from the Ministry of Environment Dr Soumitra Dasgupta, called the meeting involving senior officials from various states, and the Member Secretary of the Central Zoo Authority Dr SP Yadav. The meeting…