GUWAHATI: Residents rescued a Himalayan Griffon vulture from the Nityananda Bazar near Barpeta town on Saturday morning and later handed the species over to forest officials for treatment.
The vulture is suspected to have “fallen ill owing to food poisoning”.
“A Himalayan Griffon vulture sitting near a pond at Nityananda Bazar was first noticed by some youths near Nityananda on Saturday morning. When they found that the species was motionless for quite a while, they informed us about the abnormality following which we went to the spot. Thereafter we informed forest officials about the species and its condition,” David Das, a wildlife activist and a photographer, told The Shillong Times.
Das said that the vulture did not have any visible injury marks on its body but appeared unwell.
Forest officials rushed to the spot and immediately took the vulture to a rescue centre at Barpeta Road for preliminary treatment.
“They officials speculate that the vulture might have eaten something that triggered the condition. The species, we are told, is currently being kept at the Manas Tiger Project office at Simlaguri. It will be subsequently taken to the Kokrajhar Bird Rescue Centre for better treatment before it is finally released in the wilds,” he said.
Categorised as “near threatened” in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List, the Himalayan Griffon (scientifically known as Gyps himalayensis) is one of the six species of vultures found in Assam and nine in the country.
It may be mentioned that in March this year, as many as 36 vultures, a majority of them Himalayan Griffon, in Assam’s Sivasagar district, had reportedly fallen prey to secondary poisoning after consuming carcass laced with pesticides.
The state has a Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre at Rani, about 30km from here, which is one of the four such centres set up by the Bombay Natural History Society in the country in association with the respective forest departments.