Locals in Gaibandha Sadar have rescued a rare black vulture, also known as a cinereous vulture, and handed it over to police in Ramchandrapur union’s Torofkamal village on Monday.
Police handed over the vulture to the Vulture Rescue Centre at Singra National Reserve Forest in Dinajpur Tuesday afternoon.
Gaibandha Sadar police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Khan Md Shahriar said: "A flock of birds were going from north to south when locals noticed that a bird had fallen on the ground. They caught the bird and informed local police. On receiving information, police rescued the bird from them and brought it to the police station."
They have fed the vulture a few pieces of chicken after bringing it to the police station, OC Shahriar added.
The black vulture is a large raptorial bird that is distributed through much of Eurasia. Its scientific name is Aegypius monachus. This vulture breeds in high mountains and large forests, nesting in trees or occasionally on cliff ledges.
Mizanur Rahman, vulture consultant at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), said: "This species of vultures is rare in Bangladesh. We are assuming that this vulture got weak due to the long flight and extreme cold during its migration."
IUCN Senior Program Manager Shimanto Dipu said: "The black vulture is declared as a critically endangered species in the world. According to IUCN, there are only 268 vultures in Bangladesh. Use of Diclofenac and Ketoprofen in animal drugs and scarcity of food and places of habitation are some of the causes behind its gradual extinction."
As vultures are known as obligate scavengers, their extinction would lead various contagious diseases like anthrax or rabies to be on the rise, Shimanto added.
