Vulture population declined from 40 million to 19K in over 3 decades: Govt

There has been a sharp decline in the population of vultures in the country which has come down from 40 million to 19,000 in a span of over three decades, the Environment Ministry told the Parliament Friday.

Responding to a query on the status of vultures in the country, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said there are three species of critically endangered resident Gyps vultures-- White-backed vulture, Long-billed vulture and Slender-billed vulture-- whose population as per the latest figures is 6,000, 12,000 and 1,000, respectively.

"There has been a sharp decline in the vulture population. The crash in population was first noticed in the mid-90s and by 2007, there was a 99 per cent decline in the population of the three resident Gyps species of vultures," he said.

The minister said nationwide vulture surveys are being carried out by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) every four years sponsored by the Ministry of Environment and forest departments of various states since 1990.

"The surveys are carried out mainly for three species of critically endangered resident Gyps vultures- White-backed, Long-billed and Slender-billed. These three species were very common in the country with an estimated population of