India News | Vulture Stranded During Cyclone
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. A migratory cinereous vulture, stranded during a cyclone in coastal Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu in 2017, was on Thursday flown to Jodhpur to be released in the Machia Biological Park there, a senior forest official said.
Chennai, Nov 3 (PTI) A migratory cinereous vulture, stranded during a cyclone in coastal Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu in 2017, was on Thursday flown to Jodhpur to be released in the Machia Biological Park there, a senior forest official said.
The vulture was temporarily housed at the Arignar Anna Zoological Park (AAZP), Vandalur, here, for three days for acclimatisation after it was brought by road from Kanyakumari district on October 30.
"The vulture was transported in a special cage designed with proper ventilation and space," said Supriya Sahu, Additional Chief Secretary (environment, climate change and forests).
As the Machia Biological Park is located around 2,600 km from Kanyakumari, it would take a minimum 4 or 5 days to transport the bird by road or rail as halts would be required to minimise stress on the vulture. Hence, it was decided to transport it by air.
Accordingly, permission was obtained from the Ministry of Civil Aviation to transport the vulture by air for the first time in the country. Necessary clearance and logistics support were provided, she said.
A special aircraft with more cargo space and ventilation was arranged and the pilots were apprised of ensuring proper ventilation for the bird during the flight. There was a halt for 3 hours in Delhi airport.
"In order to calm the vulture and reduce travel stress, special airside permission was arranged in Delhi airport for the accompanying district forest officer (DFO), Kanyakumari, a veterinarian and a bird-handler, to be with the vulture at the airport," she said.
During the halt, the handler provided the vulture water and kept the bird calm. The airport staff were instructed to cautiously handle the cage to prevent stress on the vulture and ensure priority to loading and unloading.
"The vulture has been successfully transported to Machia Biological Park, Jodhpur, where it will be conditioned for safe release into the wild. The bird has also been tagged by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, to enable its tracking after the release," Sahu said.
As a juvenile, the injured vulture was stranded during the Ockhi cyclone near Asaripallam in Nagercoil town of Kanyakumari district. It was rescued, and proper veterinary care was given by Kanyakumari forest division. It was since kept in the Udhayagiri Biodiversity Park in Udhayagiri Fort.
Due to the efforts and care of the forest staff, the vulture completely recovered and grew into an adult. It is now fit to be released into the wild, the Forest Department said. The vulture was named after the cyclone Ockhi. Cinereous vultures are a long-distance migrant and high-altitude flyers. They are also social animals living in flocks. Hence, in order to ensure its right to life, the Tamil Nadu Forest Department took efforts to release the vulture into the wild.
This vulture was a young individual when rescued as juveniles of this species are known to be stragglers and may have got drifted with air currents and ended up at the site near Kanyakumari. Large vultures of this kind depend on thermals or air currents for lift-off and soaring flight.
"In the absence of such thermals, the vulture may have got stranded. Considering the suitable wintering sites of cinereous vultures in India, it was suggested that the captive vulture be transported to Rajasthan and released," an official release said. Permission was obtained from the Chief Wildlife Warden, Rajasthan, for the same. Rajasthan has number of cattle carcasses dumping sites that support large population of vultures. And one such site is the Keru cattle carcass dumping site 20 km from Jodhpur town. The Keru site is ideal for release of the captive vulture not only because of the presence of other cinereous vultures but also because of availability of food. Further, close to the Keru site is the Machia Biological Park where the captive vulture on arrival in Jodhpur may be housed for few days for it to acclimatise. The vulture can then be deployed with the transmitter there and released at the Keru site.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)