WWF India launch ‘Bring Back the Vultures’ poster
On the eve of International Vulture Awareness Day on September 3, the WWF India has launched a poster on vulture species in India with conservation information on each species.
Vultures are often demonised due to the way they appear and the task they perform in nature’s food chain. This undermines their importance as cleaners of our environment, controlling the spread of diseases from decaying dead animals, a press release said.
To improve the understanding of people about vultures, WWF India has created the poster ‘Bring Back the Vultures’ highlighting the nine species of vultures found in the country. The population of vultures has declined to low number and their conservation in the country is imperative, WWF India pointed out in the release.
Various steps like captive breeding of a few species, banning the use of Diclofenac Sodium in veterinary treatment and monitoring vulture populations in the wild have been taken up by the government and several conservation organisations.
Ravi Singh, Secretary-General and CEO, WWF India said, “spreading awareness about the species of vultures in India will help address the need of conserving them.”
Dr. Diwakar Sharma, Director, National Conservation Programme WWF India said, “WWF India started a month long vulture count through citizen science last September and this is being done again in September this year.”
The poster has illustrations and information on each species – White-rumped vultures, Indian long-billed vulture, Slender-billed vulture, Red-headed vulture, Egyptian vulture, Cinereous vulture, Bearded vulture, Himalayan Griffon and Eurasian Griffon- which include their conservation status.
The poster be also available in Telugu, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Bengali and Assamese.
