GUWAHATI: The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) will set up a vulture breeding and conservation centre near Amsoi in central Assam's Nagaon district. This will be the third vulture breeding and conservation centre in the country after Pinjore and Buxa.

The Assam Forest Department has given five hectares of land to BNHS for the proposed conservation centre, which will be a 15-year project for breeding slender billed vultures. The centre will be equipped with all facilities for captive breeding. Of the 200 pairs of the birds found in the world, a majority of them are in Assam, Asad R. Rahmani, Director, said here. A BNHS team was in the State. The centre would be set up by October, breeding time of the vultures.

"We will try to get vultures from other parts of the country as well as from Assam for breeding. Only the young ones will be caught. After the project is completed, the vultures will be released in to the wild."

Mr. Rahmani said three species of vultures — White-backed, Long-billed and Slender-billed — were dying at a fast rate. "From millions, their number has come down to a few thousands in the whole country and every year we see less of them." Vulture decline in the Indian subcontinent is the fastest of any species in the world.

The first meeting to discuss the issue was held in 1998 at the BNHS headquarter at Hornbill House. It was followed by another meeting in 1999, when it became clear that three species of vultures were in danger of extinction. In September 2000, BNHS organised an international seminar in New Delhi.

Earlier, it was believed that the vultures were dying due to a viral disease. In May 2003, it was found in Pakistan that the anti-inflammatory drug, Diclofenac, was the main cause. This was subsequently confirmed in India and Nepal. The BNHS launched a campaign, urging the Centre to ban the drug for veterinary use. Vultures are exposed to Diclofenac when they scavenge carcasses of livestock treated with diclofenac before death.

Mr. Rahmani said the Drugs Controller-General on May 11 asked all State drug controllers to phase out diclofenac for veterinary use and ordered that alternate safer and effective drug such as meloxicam be permitted to be used for treatment of animals in veterinary healthcare.

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