A Vulture baby born at Pinjore in Haryana

Mumbai, Jan 8 (UNI) One of the world's most endangered birds, the oriental white-backed vulture, has successfully bred in captivity for the first time at Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre of the Bombay Natural History Society at Pinjore in Haryana.

The chick, hatched on January 1 last in a breeding center in Pinjore, some 40 killometers from Chandigarh, is one of the three species of Asian vultures facing extinction.

Quoting Principal Scientist and head of Vulture Conservation Breeding Programme in India Dr Vibhu Prakash, BNHS director Dr Asad Rahmani said that in the wild, the incubation period is about 55 days.

However, in the BNHS Centre, set up in collaboration with the forest depatrment of Haryana, the egg hatched in about 54 days. The eggs were laid in November 2006.

''I am happy with this successful breeding. We achieved this success almost two years before the set target of 2008. However, now we will have to be quick in effectively implementing the ban on the killer drug Diclofenac to assure a better future to this newborn Vulture'', Dr Rahmani said.

''The Conservation Breeding Programme is the only hope for recovery of the vultures. The BNHS aims at releasing 100 pairs of three critically endangered vulture species to repopulate the wild population'', he said, adding that to ensure its success the killer drug Diclofenac has to be wiped off before the release of vultures.

Urging the governmentor to strictly enforce ban on the killer veterinary drug Diclofenac, he said the citizens should also help in creating better future for the endangered species.

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