Poisoned vultures treated, released in the wild

Guwahati: Following a decision taken by Assam Forest Department nine vultures that survived poisoning and were rescued from Chengeligaon of Dangori area in Tinsukia district of eastern Assam , under Doomdooma Forest Division (Talap Range), were released back in to the wild by the Eastern Assam Mobile Veterinary Service (MVS) unit of International Fund for Animal Welfare and Wildlife Trust of India (IFAW-WTI) on Friday.
These vultures were victims of carcass poisoning that resulted in death of 31 endangered vultures on March 4, 2015. The surviving vultures were under the observation of Eastern Assam MVS unit led by Dr Samshul Ali with animal keeper, Hemanta Das, at Na-Barmura campus in Saikhowa Forest Range. These scavengers gradually recovered and responded well to the treatment.
M K Dhar, DFO, Tinsukia Wildlife Division said , “The recovery of the poisoned vultures is a great success of IFAW-WTI MVS team and the forest department. I appeal to the villagers that if you find any such case please inform the department as soon as possible. It was a sad incident; we have to learn the lesson from this incident for the conservation of this endangered bird species.”
The surviving individuals include seven Himalayan griffons, one slender bill and one white-rumped vulture. It is to be mentioned that out of nine vultures, eight were rescued from Chengeligaon and one from Kakopothar area of Tinsukia district.
Dr Bhaskar Choudhury, Regional Head and Head Veterinarian, IFAW-WTI, said, “It is a moment of mixed feeling. We are happy to treat and revive these nine individuals, including the critically endangered white-rumped and slender billed vultures, but are equally concerned about the safety of these individuals once they are released back in to the wild.” He also added that the greatest challenge for the team is to change the mind-set of the people so that such mass poisoning of the endangered bird which is so important to the ecology, will not occur again.
It is to be mentioned here that Biswajit Sonowal, a village youth and his friends helped in rescuing the sick birds from the carcass poisoning incident site on 4th March 2015, which has been appreciated by the forest officials and conservationists.
Deputy director of the WTI, Dr Rathin Barman said vultures which are critically endangered, were no less important to the environment than focused wildlife species like tiger and rhino.