Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on 6 September inaugurated India’s first conservation and breeding centre for the Asian King Vultures in Bharivaisi, Campierganj Range of the Gorakhpur forest division.
- The facility – Jatayu Conservation and Breeding Centre – aims to improve the population of the species, which has been listed as critically endangered in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list since 2007.
- Other vulture conservation and breeding centres in the country have long-billed and white-backed vultures.
- Six vultures (male and female) have been introduced to the facility.
- The goal is to release 40 pairs of vultures from the centre over the next 8 to 10 years.
- Asian King Vultures are endangered due to loss of their habitats and excessive use of diclofenac, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, in domestic animals, which becomes poisonous for vultures.
- Red-headed vultures are rarely seen in Uttar Pradesh. In 2023, they were spotted in Chitrakoot.
- The first vulture was brought to this centre on December 30, 2022 and later, another was brought.
