Captive Breeding: Hatching Of Vulture Chick At Nandankanan Rekindles Hope

Bhubaneswar: The Nandankanan Zoological Park authorities here have successfully bred a rare vulture in captivity. The chick was successfully hatched on February 27 from a pair of long-billed vulture received from Gwalior zoo earlier last year.

Large diurnal bird vulture are highly threatened across the country with their population dipping alarmingly. The hatchling has rekindled hope of arresting the fast-declining trend of this endangered avian specie.

“The newborn is safe and sound at the vulture breeding and conservation centre in Nandankanan. It is a significant development in vulture conservation programme at a time when these winged species are on the verge of extinction,” said Deputy Director, Nandankanan Zoological Park, Jayanta Dash.

The vulture breeding and conservation centre at the zoo was inaugurated on December 29 by Forest and Environment Minister Bijayshree Routray on the occasion of 59th Foundation Day of the zoo.

The Central Zoo Authority (CZA) had sanctioned Rs 1 crore for the centre, which is nursery-cum-quarantine aviary for vultures.

To conserve the endangered vulture species, an off-exhibit area was earlier constructed at Nandankanan in 2011-12, following a decision to establish five vulture conservation breeding centres at Gujarat’s Junagadh zoo, Bhopal, Hyderabad and Bhubaneswar in 2007, and at Ranchi in 2009.