Zoo In India

Vulture Conservation and Breeding Centre

The Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre acronym JCBC, at Pinjore in Haryana State is a unique research facility located in the “Bir Shikargah Wildlife Sanctuary” with an aim to breed and conserve the fast dwindling and endangered species of Indian vultures.

Vultures are an important part of life-cycle on earth and they were abundant in population until the late 1990s and now in less than twenty years they are one of the most critically endangered species. Vulture conservation is hence important and their breeding in captivity has to be undertaken so as to ensure that the species is not completely wiped out from the face of the earth as this will be detrimental to man.

History

Since the last two decades, there has been a dramatic decline of the vulture population in India. In September 2001, the Vulture Care Centre was set up as a joint venture of the Bombay Natural History Society and the Forest Department of the Haryana Government. Financial aid was given by the UK Government to probe the reasons for the falling numbers of the native species of Indian Vultures.

The facility that is now called, the Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre was set up inside the Bir Shikargah Wildlife Sanctuary and occupies about 5 acres of the sanctuary. The research conducted in the centre confirmed that the reason for this dramatic fall of vulture population in India was the toxic effect of a veterinary pain killer, diclofenac that was given to cattle. The vultures fed on the carcasses of cattle and died because of the toxic effect of this drug.
This finding resulted in the ban of the drug, diclofenac in veterinary practice in India.

Objectives

There are three genuses of the Gyps species of vultures found in India that are critically endangered; they are the White-backed, Long-billed and Slender-billed vultures. A program was planned so as to ensure that these species do not get extinct. The main objective of establishing this conservation and breeding centre was the successful implementation of this program:

1. Firstly, 25 pairs of each of the species of vultures had to be bred. This would be the founder population.
2. Within a span of 15 years a minimum of 200 vultures of each of the three genuses would be released to the wild to breed in natural surroundings.
3. To ensure that the environment is free from the toxic drug diclofenac

This would ensure the survival of the species of India Vultures.

Location

The Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre or JCBC is set up in  the Bir Shikargah Wildlife Sanctuary in the village Jodhpur, only 8 kms from Pinjore in Haryana State on five acres of Forest land.

Conservation and Breeding Programme

The Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre, a pioneering effort in Asia was planned and is being executed with financial aid from many quarters such as the “Central Zoo Authority”,” Darwin Initiative for the Survival of  Species of the UK Government” and ” the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, UK” The Centre has also got help from the “Zoological Society of London and  International Centre for Birds of Prey” both from the U.K.

The Central Zoo Authority has given the JCBC the designation of the Coordinating Zoo for Vulture Conservation in India. Such breeding and conservation centres will be now set up in other states as well.  The implementation of the ban on the toxic drug diclofenac is crucial for the success of this initiative.

JCBC at Pinjore has the biggest collection globally, of Gyps Vultures, which are the endangered species. It has 160 vultures belonging to the three endangered species; white-backed vultures are 63 in number, long billed vultures are 74 and slender billed vultures are 21. It also has two numbers of Himalayan Griffons. 

The Jatayu Centre for Breeding and Conservation is a research facility and is not open to the public.

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