Kolkata (PTI): India has become the first country in the world to successfully breed critically endangered slender-billed vultures in captivity.

A chick born in February last year from one of the six pairs of the rare species hosted in the vulture conservation breeding centre at Rajabhatkhawa forest in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district is now healthy.

This is the first time that this species of vulture has been bred in captivity anywhere in the world, according to conservationists.

"We started off in 2005 with a mission to prevent vultures from getting extinct. And now, with this hatching we are encouraged to raise more slender-billed vultures, which have been identified as critically-endangered worldwide," the breeding centre's manager, Sachin Ranade, told PTI.

The conservation programme, run by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) in collaboration with the forest department of West Bengal, began in December, 2005 when a slender-billed vulture was caught from Dholla in Tinsukia district of Assam.

So far, 23 sub-adults and juvenile slender-billed vultures have been caught and are being reared for conservation breeding programmes at Pinjore (Haryana) and Rajabhatkhawa.

According to estimates, less than 200 pairs of the species now survive in the wild in India. The bird is endemic to south and south-east Asia.

The Rajabhatkhawa centre houses a total of 80 vultures which were brought from different parts of the country, particularly from Assam. Besides the slender-billed variety, there are 19 long-billed and 49 white-backed vultures in captivity.

"We want to establish a founder population of 25 pairs each of the three endangered vulture species. By rearing them in captivity, their life is saved and once they start breeding, they would augment their population," Ranade said.

Vultures, crucial for the ecology for their role as scavengers, have been declining fast since the early 1990s. As their population decrease by around 40 per cent per year, these three critically endangered species are on the brink of extinction in India, Pakistan and Nepal, he said.

Diclofenac drug is toxic for vultures. As they consume carcasses of animals that were treated with the drug, they also get intoxicated, the official said explaining the reason behind their declining population.