Rare Himalayan Griffon Vulture rescued in Kanpur

The bird has been taken by the forest department to a nearby centre where it has been put into isolation for 15 days.

Locals capture a rare species of Himalayan Griffon Vulture from the Eidgah cemetery of Kanpur’s Colonelganj and later handed it over to the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department, in Kanpur on Monday. | Photo Credit: ANI

A section of Kanpur residents rescued a rare species of Himalayan Griffon Vulture near the Eidgah cemetery located in Colonelganj locality of the city and handed over it to the Forest Department on Monday.

In a multiple video that went viral on social media platforms on Monday, the residents of the area were seen holding the scavenger bird in their hands and clicking pictures with it, and some people could be seen pulling its wings. The bird has been taken by the forest department to a nearby centre where it has been put into isolation for 15 days.

The Himalayan vulture or Himalayan griffon vulture as it is called is an old world vulture native to the Himalayas and the adjoining Tibetan Plateau. It is one of the two largest old world vultures and true raptors. It is listed as near threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list.

This species mainly lives in the higher regions of the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau at the elevation range of 1,200–5,500 metres. It is distributed from Mongolia, China, Bhutan, Nepal, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan.