In continuation of its decade-old vulture conservation programme, Bombay Natural History Society also known as BNHS-India, in association with Rio Tinto and BirdLife International, is all set to establish a Vulture Safe Zone (VSZ) in the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh.
This is a five-year partnership that will work in an area of 30,000 sq km identified as a potential VSZ, where targeted awareness activities and cattle carcass sampling will be conducted. This will help ensure no diclofenac or other veterinary drugs toxic for vultures are present in carcasses.
A VSZ so created can be ideal place to reintroduce captive bred vultures back into the wild. "The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for this joint project was signed today in the presence of BNHS and Rio Tinto officials at Hornbill House in Mumbai," BNHS said.
Bunder Diamond Project of Rio Tinto in Madhya Pradesh is partnering with BNHS for conservation of vultures in the state. The Bundelkhand region lies between the Indo-Gangetic plains in the north and Vindhya Range in the south.
In future, other areas nearby can be converted into similar VSZs so that a combined larger area is eventually available for vultures to survive and multiply as a self-sustaining population.
