A critically endangered long-billed vulture at Pench reserve.
| Photo Credit: PTI
A sick vulture of an endangered species, with ‘Dhaka’ inscribed on a metallic ring on one of its legs, was found in a dam in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh district on Monday.
The white-backed vulture is a Schedule 1 endangered species and is being kept in Bishnugarh for observation and treatment, the Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) B.N. Prasad said.
A group of fishermen spotted the vulture in the waters of the Konar Dam and informed forest and police officials, who visited the spot accompanied by Intelligence Bureau sleuths.
An inscription ‘gpobox-2624, Dhaka, b67’, and a tracking device were also found on the vulture, along with a note: “If found, please contact john.malot@rspb.org.uk.” The forest officials took the bird for treatment and will keep it under observation for some time.
Police officials say that a Dhaka-based researcher named John Malot of the UK’s Royal Society for Protection of Birds (RSPB) released the vulture with a tracker device and a solar radio collar to track its movements as it travelled from Dhaka to Hazaribagh.
The police denied any link to the unrest in Bangladesh.
An expert associated with SAVE (Saving Asia’s Vultures from Extinction) conjectured that the vulture was fatigued and hungry after a long flight, leaving it unable to continue. A second possibility was diclofenac-contaminated meat.
