Mumbai, Sep 5 (PTI) The Melghat and Pench tiger reserves in Maharashtra have emerged as India’s most successful reintroduction sites for captive-bred vultures, recording high survival rates, the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) said on Saturday.
Marking International Vulture Day, the BNHS said 29 vultures released across the two tiger reserves between December 2025 and January 2026 achieved survival rates of up to 78 per cent, proving the viability of shifting release aviaries to prey-rich, inviolate tiger habitats.
International Vulture Day is observed on the first Saturday of September.
This year, the vulture breeding programme in India completed 25 years and bred over 800 buzzards of three species so far.
The BNHS started releasing vultures in 2020, and has so far released around 134 birds, in collaboration with the governments of Haryana, West Bengal, Assam and Maharashtra, with permission from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Central Zoo Authority (CZA).
It also changed the release strategy, emphasising tiger reserves, where the big cat population recorded a significant increase after village resettlements.
The BNHS and Maharashtra Forest Department signed an MOU for the vulture release programme, and jointly released nine white-rumped vultures and five long-billed vultures in December 2025 at Pench Tiger Reserve, recording a 78 per cent survival rate over nine months.
Similarly, they released 15 long-billed vultures in January 2026 in Melghat Tiger Reserve and recorded a 60 per cent survival rate in eight months.
“This shows that the vulture pre-release aviaries established in Melghat and Pench Tiger Reserve of Maharashtra are the most successful ones so far,” said Kishor Rithe, Director, BNHS.
As the vulture reintroduction programme is comparatively new, BNHS teams are experimenting to gain more knowledge, and compared to previous releases in 2023-24, the teams saw better results in 2024-26.
Vultures were bred at Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre (JCBC), Pinjore, Haryana and brought to Maharashtra for reintroduction.
Among the 29 reintroduced vultures, a female long-billed vulture bearing ring number ‘X67’ released in Melghat has undertaken extensive movements across central India, the BNHS said.
After its early rehabilitation in Akola, X67 flew a staggering 4,911 kilometres, scavenging in Kuno, Sheopur and then Ranthambhore again in Kuno and presently in Sheopur, Madhya Pradesh. Her journey maps a vital northern corridor connecting the Satpura landscape to the Kuno and Ranthambore regions.
Another female long-billed vulture with ring number ‘X65’ released from Melghat provided direct evidence of natural adaptation. During its 4,257-km journey, X65 was rehabilitated in Nashik and was later seen in Surat (Gujarat), Jalgaon (Maharashtra), Burhanpur (Madhya Pradesh), Amravati and Nagpur (Maharashtra), Chindwara, Kanha TR (MP) and is presently in Katni and Shahdol.
In Pench Tiger Reserve, 24 captive-bred vultures were soft-released into the Pench landscape over the last two years.
Now, 13 of these buzzards continue to survive and navigate the wild. Notably, this group includes two pioneer long-billed vultures that have thrived since the inaugural 2024 release, proving the programme’s long-term viability.
Crucially, wild vulture nesting success in the East Pench range surged from 89 per cent in the 2024 season to a perfect 100 per cent in 2025, with all active nests successfully producing fledglings during the 2025-2026 breeding cycle.
At Melghat Tiger Reserve in January, a flock of 15 long-billed vultures was soft-released and currently, nine have successfully established themselves in the wild, demonstrating a robust 60 per cent survival rate.
Advanced satellite telemetry confirms these individuals are undertaking massive, multi-state dispersals covering thousands of kilometres across central India.
The BNHS and the Maharashtra Forest Department are actively mitigating ground-level threats, specifically targeting the veterinary use of toxic non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
More than 100 targeted programmes have been conducted for forest personnel, local communities, gaushala managers, and tourism guides to promote safe carcass disposal and ecological awareness. PTI MR ARU
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