Eleven poisoned vultures cured and released into the wild in Assam

Veterinarians in Assam have cured 11 vultures who had been poisoned after consuming a contaminated carcass and launched them within the wild on Monday.

Nineteen vultures belonging to 2 completely different species had died at Sibsagar district on April 21 after they consumed meat of a poisoned calf’s carcass at Lepaigaon Pathar.

“Seventeen of the dead vultures were Slender Billed while two others were White Backed. Preliminary investigation suggests it could be a case of secondary poisoning,” mentioned Jayashree Naiding, divisional forest officer, Sibsagar.  

“The primary target of the poisoning could be some other species, maybe stray dogs or wolves. But the vultures fed on the poisoned carcass and it resulted in the deaths,” she added.

Thirteen different vultures had been rescued from the world and despatched to the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) close to Kaziranga National Park for therapy and rehabilitation.

Two of the surviving vultures, one Slender Billed and one other White Backed, died throughout therapy. But vets at CWRC had been in a position to deal with the others – 7 Himalayan Griffons, 3 Slender Billed and 1 White Backed.

“Secondary poisoning led to vulture deaths and remains a very critical issue. We are losing this threatened and critically endangered species, also known as nature’s cleaners,” mentioned Samshul Ali, a veterinarian with Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) working at CWRC.

“We tried our level best to stabilize the two seriously ill birds, but they succumbed to death in the early hours of Friday,” he added.

The cured vultures had been launched by a WTI and CWRC workforce in presence of forest officers and conservationists.

Last yr in March, an identical incident befell in Sibsagar district whereby 39 vultures died after consuming poisoned meat at Panidihing.

The CWRC workforce was in a position to rescue 30 vultures from that incident and launch them to the wild. In April 2018, the workforce had rescued and launched 10 poisoned vultures into the wild.

While Himalayan Griffons are listed as close to threatened, White Backed and Slender Billed vultures are listed as critically endangered within the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List.