Agartala, Sept 11: Alarmed over the depleting number vultures in the state, captive breeding of the bird will be taken up at Sepahijala Wild Life Sanctuary. Talking with TIWN, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) and Chief Wild Life Warden, Dr. A K Gupta informed. He said "Vulture population in the state has crashed to a serious level.

Thus captive breeding programme is highly necessary to breed and release vultures into the wild after the external environment is considered safe to them" Among the nine species of vultures available in the country, the white - rumped (gyps-bengalensis) found in the state are recognized as critically endangered by environmentalists, Dr.Gupta added.  

      For conserving the vultures, the government decided to tie up with Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) one of the oldest and largest organizations in India engaged in conservation and biodiversity research. The senior forest official said that on September 4, he had a discussion with Dr. Rehmani, chief coordinator of  BHNS at New Delhi. Speaking about the discussion Dr. Gupta said, " The meeting was a fruitful one, but under one condition BHNS will tie up once its declared Dichlophenic free state". 

    The forest official attribute the depletion in the number of vultures due to its death after feeding flesh of pet animals which were administered anti - inflammatory medicine Diclophenic. It was banned in animals in 2006, but in the state it is reportedly used by those who rear cattle's. Remains of Dichlophenic in the carcass when consumed by vultures lead to kidney failures. "Forest department had written to drug controller, animal resources department to ban the sale of the drug in the state" said the official.                          He informed that a committee was constituted under the chairmanship of Chief Wild Life Warden by state government on 2008 to conduct state wide study regarding the decline of vultures. The results indicate that the population continues to decline at an alarming rate. The study conducted at 107 sites at 16 sub -divisions confirmed that there around 55 vultures were identified.  Vultures are an important component of the ecosystem performing the role as scavengers by consuming dead and decaying animal carcasses thereby the environment clean.