Maharashtra's tiger reserves give captive-bred vultures a fighting chance in the wild

The Melghat and Pench tiger reserves in Maharashtra have emerged as Indias most successful reintroduction sites for captivebred vultures recording high survival rates the Bombay Natural History Society BNHS said on SaturdayMarking International Vulture Day the BNHS said 29 vultures released across the two tiger reserves between December 2025 and January 2026 achieved survival rates of up to 78 per cent proving the viability of shifting release aviaries to preyrich inviolate tiger habitatsInternational Vulture Day is observed on the first Saturday of SeptemberThis year the vulture breeding programme in India completed 25 years and bred over 800 buzzards of three species so farThe BNHS started releasing vultures in 2020 and has so far released around 128 birds in collaboration with the governments of Haryana West Bengal Assam and Maharashtra with permission from the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change and Central Zoo Authority CZAIt also changed the release strategy emphasising tiger reserves where the big cat population recorded a significant increase after village resettlementsThe BNHS and Maharashtra Forest Department signed an MOU for the vulture release programme and jointly released nine whiterumped vultures and five longbilled vultures in December 2025 at Pench Tiger Reserve recording a 78 per cent survival rate over nine monthsSimilarly they released 15 longbilled vultures in January 2026 in Melghat Tiger Reserve and recorded a 60 per cent survival rate in eight monthsThis shows that the vulture prerelease aviaries established in Melghat and Pench Tiger Reserve of Maharashtra are the most successful ones so far said Kishor Rithe Director BNHSAs the vulture reintroduction programme is comparatively new BNHS teams are experimenting to gain more knowledge and compared to previous releases in 202324 the teams saw better results in 202426Vultures were bred at Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre JCBC Pinjore Haryana and brought to Maharashtra for reintroductionAmong the 29 reintroduced vultures a female longbilled vulture bearing ring number X67 released in Melghat has undertaken extensive movements across central India the BNHS saidAfter its early rehabilitation in Akola X67 flew a staggering 4911 kilometres scavenging in Kuno Sheopur and then Ranthambhore again in Kuno and presently in Sheopur Madhya Pradesh Her journey maps a vital northern corridor connecting the Satpura landscape to the Kuno and Ranthambore regionsAnother female longbilled vulture with ring number X65 released from Melghat provided direct evidence of natural adaptation During its 4257km journey X65 was rehabilitated in Nashik and was later seen in Surat Gujarat Jalgaon Maharashtra Burhanpur Madhya Pradesh Amravati and Nagpur Maharashtra Chindwara Kanha TR MP and is presently in Katni and ShahdolIn Pench Tiger Reserve 24 captivebred vultures were softreleased into the Pench landscape over the last two yearsNow 13 of these buzzards continue to survive and navigate the wild Notably this group includes two pioneer longbilled vultures that have thrived since the inaugural 2024 release proving the programmes longterm viabilityCrucially wild vulture nesting success in the East Pench range surged from 89 per cent in the 2024 season to a perfect 100 per cent in 2025 with all active nests successfully producing fledglings during the 20252026 breeding cycleAt Melghat Tiger Reserve in January a flock of 15 longbilled vultures was softreleased and currently nine have successfully established themselves in the wild demonstrating a robust 60 per cent survival rateAdvanced satellite telemetry confirms these individuals are undertaking massive multistate dispersals covering thousands of kilometres across central IndiaThe BNHS and the Maharashtra Forest Department are actively mitigating groundlevel threats specifically targeting the veterinary use of toxic nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs NSAIDsMore than 100 targeted programmes have been conducted for forest personnel local communities gaushala managers and tourism guides to promote safe carcass disposal and ecological awarenessThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever