India Launches First Vulture Conservation Portal in Assam

V Foundation, Assam Bird Monitoring Network, Lasa Foundation have developed India’s first-of-its-kind portal in Guwahati, Assam for the conservation of slender-billed vultures. India is home to 9 species of vultures.
• Under the leadership of V Foundation India, a group of organizations launched this portal (http:// www. thevulturenetwork.org) on 2 September, 2025 in collaboration with the Department of Zoology, Guwahati University, Assam.
• A foundation based in Assam working on vulture conservation has developed a portal, reportedly the first of its kind in India, to create a network of individuals engaged in saving the large scavenging birds.
• The collaborators of V Foundation in the Vulture Network include Assam Bird Monitoring Network, Lasa Foundation, Suraksha Samiti, and individual researchers and conservationists. Special emphasis was given to the slender-billed vulture, of which only about 800 adult vultures remain.

Purpose of the portal

• The launch focused on the threats of carcass poisoning, harmful veterinary drugs like diclofenac, and negative social perceptions, all of which are causing the decline in vulture populations.
• They said that the purpose of the portal is to disseminate information in local languages, starting with Assamese, to ensure that people at the grassroots level understand how the existence of vultures is connected to their lives and local economy.

About vultures

• India is home to 9 species of vultures: slender-billed vulture, white-rumped vulture, red-headed vulture, Himalayan griffon vulture, Egyptian vulture, cinereous vulture, Indian vulture, bearded vulture, Eurasian griffon vulture.
• Importance: feeding on animal carcasses and thus helping to keep the environment clean.
• Threats: ingestion of toxic non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) like diclofenac (used in livestock treatment), habitat loss, electrocution, shortage of food and human disturbance.
• Conservation initiatives: Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre (VCBC) - Rani (Assam), Pinjore (Haryana), Action Plan for Vulture Conservation in India, 2020-2025, etc.

World’s first conservation and breeding centre for Asian king vulture (red-headed vulture)

• Recently, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated the Jatayu Conservation and Breeding Centre. It has been established in Campierganj Range of Maharajganj district.
• This is the world’s first conservation and breeding centre for the Asian king vulture (red-headed vulture). This centre has been named Jatayu Conservation and Breeding Centre.

Asian king vulture

• Asian king vultures were earlier found throughout India, but due to the drug diclofenac their population has declined drastically.
• They are listed as a critically endangered species in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List and have been listed in Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972.