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Rs. 50-lakh Haryana plan to conserve endangered species

Special Correspondent

Action plan for 2006-07 to be prepared by experts

CHANDIGARH: The Haryana Government will spend Rs.50 lakhs on conservation, maintenance and breeding of endangered species of vultures in the State, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary (Forests) H. C. Disodia said here on Tuesday.

Presiding over the first meeting of the Governing Body set up for overseeing implementation of the Vulture Conservation Programme in the State, he said the Government was taking several steps to boost the conservation and breeding of the endangered species at the Vulture Conservation and Breeding Centre (VCBC) in Pinjore near here.

He disclosed that 116 vultures were being kept at the Pinjore Centre. Only two eggs were laid during the last breeding season but none of them had hatched so far.

It was decided that an action plan for 2006-07 would be prepared by a committee of experts led by the Chief Wildlife Warden, R. D. Jakati. He pointed out that the population of the most abandoned species of vultures -- White Backed, Long billed and Slender billed---- was on the decline over the last 15 years and at present these species were virtually on the verge of extinction. Initially it was believed that these vultures were dying because of some virus but during 2004 it was detected that the veterinary drug Declofenac, a painkiller given to the animals, was the prime cause of their mortality, he added.

He said the vulture conservation programme in the State was launched in 2001 when a Vulture Care Centre was established in Pinjore by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) in collaboration with the Haryana Forests Department.

After the detection of the cause of the mortality among the vultures, the emphasis of the programme had shifted to their conservation and breeding. J. P. L. Srivasatva, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, said the Union Government was being approached for inclusion of the programme in the 11th Five Year Plan for funding of various activities.

Asad Rahmani, Director of Bombay Natural History Society, Jamima Perry Jones of the National Birds of Prey Trust , UK, Chris Bowden of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, UK , Nick Lindsay of the Zoological Society of London, who were also present at the meeting of the Governing Body, assured their full cooperation for making the programme a big success.

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