A white-rumped vulture. The populations of several vulture species in Bangladesh have stabilized over the past few years, thanks to joint conservation efforts by the country’s forest department and IUCN Bangladesh. Photo Credit: IUCN Bangladesh.
Animals BangladeshVultures Are Soaring Again, Thanks to Conservation Success
The vulture population in Bangladesh has stabilized thanks to concrete measures destined to halt such a drastic decline, so much so that the number of scavenger birds can start increasing again.
“We have been trying to implement all the actions mentioned in the [National Vulture Conservation Action Plan 2016-2025] to get back the species in the wild again,” says Abu Naser Mohsin Hossain, divisional forest officer with the Bangladesh Forest Department.
The nation’s forest department and the Bangladesh office of the International Union for Conservation of Nature joined forces to save the birds by imposing a ban on veterinary drugs used in cattle that are toxic to vultures, establishing two vulture safe zones – one in Sylhet spanning 9,660 square kilometers and the other in Khulna covering 27,700 square kilometers – and by revitalizing the species’ habitat. The scavenging birds need to be saved since the red-headed vulture (Sarcogyps calvus) is locally extinct, and the white-rumped (Gyps bengalensis) and the slender-billed (Gyps tenuirostris) are critically endangered. Community-based vulture feeding stations have been installed throughout the country, and a rescue center has been able to save, rehabilitate and release more than 100 vultures since 2016.
