Vulture populations in Pakistan and the Gyps Vulture Restoration Project

Abstract

Populations of three critically endangered Gyps vultures continue to decline in South Asia, due primarily to veterinary diclofenac. In the Punjab Province of Pakistan, annual rates of decline for breeding populations of Oriental White-backed Vultures Gyps bengalensis have ranged between 11% and 61% per year since 2001. Conservation initiatives to address the vulture declines have included the establishment and development of conservation breeding centres. Apart from two such centres currently operating in India, a third regional centre opened in Pakistan in 2007. Herein we describe the Gyps Vulture Restoration Project, launched by WWF-Pakistan in 2004, and the conservation breeding centre at Changa Manga, near Lahore in the Punjab Province of Pakistan.

Vulture News Vol. 58 2008: pp. 35-43