First release of captive-bred vultures in Nepal

The government of Nepal, alongside national and international conservation organisations, have released captive-reared Critically Endangered White-rumped Vultures in the first event of its kind in southern Asia.

On 9 November, the Secretary of the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, the Director General of Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation and a small group of officials, scientists and community leaders watched quietly as five of six vultures exited a pre-release aviary at the Jatayu Restaurant in Pithauli, Nawalparasi, Nepal.

“This is the first release of captive-reared vultures in Nepal and the world is watching,” said Yubak Dhoj GC, Secretary, Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation, Government of Nepal. “I appreciate the participation of community and multi-stakeholder efforts to bring about this important day.”

The Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN) team, who lead the conservation of vultures in Nepal, placed food on either side of the release-aviary door, which was then opened from a distant hide. Wild vultures soon discovered the food outside and landed to feed. The captive vultures appeared hesitant at first, but half an hour later the first captive vulture exited the aviary to feed together with the wild birds. 

Some of the tagged captive-reared White-rumped Vultures feed with their wild cousins (Rajendra Gurung).

After one and half hours, five of the six vultures were outside the aviary (while the last one left the following morning). Some of the released vultures re-entered and exited the aviary a number of times before deciding to stay outside. Some wild vultures also entered and exited the release-aviary where these birds have been kept to acclimatise since April.

The released vultures held their own in the typical vulture feeding scuffles. Eventually they attempted to fly, which they found difficult at first, partly because it was their first unrestricted flight and partly because their crops were full of meat. The BCN team watched until all had found a suitable perch to roost for the night. Monitoring of the vultures continues, using satellite telemetry to locate them in the field, and further updates will appear on how they get on. 

The vultures had been raised in captivity in Nepal’s Vulture Conservation and Breeding Centre in Chitwan National Park and released within the country’s provisional Vulture Safe Zone (VSZ), which also extends transboundary into Uttar Pradesh, India, where further similar efforts are underway.

“Releasing vultures reared in captivity in this location, combines our in situ and ex situ efforts to save these birds,” said Krishna Bhusal, a Vulture Conservation Program Officer from BCN. “It is an exciting day for me and all Nepal”.

After stretching their wings and joining the wild vultures, the freshly-released birds appeared to be adapting well to the wild initially (Rajendra Gurung).

Nepal is home to nine species of vultures, five of which underwent catastrophic population declines of more than 90 per cent during the mid-1990s to early-2010s, these including White-rumped Vulture. The birds are now considered Critically Endangered. The loss of vultures has caused a loss in the vital ecosystem service they provide, cleaning the environment of animal carcasses. Nepal’s people relied on this service to dispose of dead cattle, but ironically vultures were inadvertently killed in their thousands because they are highly intolerant to diclofenac, the veterinary drug formerly commonly used in cattle.

In the first major step to conserve vultures, the Government of Nepal banned the production and use of veterinary diclofenac in 2006, and shortly afterwards implemented a Vulture Conservation Action Plan for Nepal. One result of this plan is to release vultures from the Vulture Conservation and Breeding Centre into the provisional Vulture Safe Zone.

“Within the provisional Vulture Safe Zone, we conduct undercover surveys of pharmacies and have found no diclofenac in the last four years,” said Krishna Bhusal. “We also conduct surveys of vulture populations and have found that the population declines have slowed and possibly even reversed.”

The breeding centre was established in 2008 and is a collaborative project of the Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation (Chitwan National Park), the National Trust for Nature Conservation and BCN, with support from the RSPB, the International Centre for Birds of Prey and the Zoological Society of London. Presently, there are 50 adult White-rumped Vultures and eight fledglings in the breeding centre.

BCN, with the support of the RSPB have created the VSZ in the western lowlands of Nepal. It is a large area (18,600 square miles) where awareness raising activities among communities have ensured that diclofenac is no longer used as a veterinary drug. 

“It is time to assess whether the provisional VSZ has become a true VSZ, but only the vultures can show us that,” said Toby Galligan, Senior Conservation Scientist, RSPB Centre for Conservation Science (RSPB CfCS). “We are using satellite telemetry to track wild White-rumped Vultures remotely and in the field. If any die we can recover them, examine them for cause of death and prevent other vultures dying from that cause.”  

In April and November this year, BCN and the RSPB CfCS fitted satellite transmitters to 11 adult White-rumped Vultures. All are alive, breeding at several sites within the provisional VSZ and foraging up to 60 miles from where they were caught.