With vultures having disappeared from nearly 72% of their historically recorded nesting sites across India, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Sunday stressed the need to strengthen conservation efforts for the country’s most efficient scavengers and called for continued work to establish Vulture Safe Zones.
Speaking at an International Vulture Awareness Day 2026 event in Panchkula, Haryana, Yadav said the recovery of vulture populations in the wild would require safer veterinary practices, reliable food availability and stronger technical capacity. He urged veterinary professionals, livestock owners, local administrations and communities to support conservation initiatives and adopt safe carcass-management practices.
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Vultures play an important ecological role by feeding on dead and decaying animals. Unlike predators, they generally do not hunt their prey and instead consume carrion left behind by other animals. By rapidly removing animal carcasses, vultures help maintain environmental cleanliness and reduce the potential spread of diseases.
Vulture numbers have declined dramatically since the 1990s. One of the major factors behind the collapse was the veterinary use of diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory medicine widely administered to livestock. Research found that vultures feeding on the carcasses of livestock treated with the drug suffered kidney failure and died.
India is home to nine species of vultures: white-rumped, long-billed, slender-billed, red-headed, Egyptian, Himalayan griffon, Eurasian griffon, cinereous and bearded vultures. Their distribution extends across the country, from the Himalayan region to Kerala.
A pan-India assessment conducted by scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India last year highlighted the scale of the decline. Researchers found only 120 active historical nesting sites among 425 sites documented in scientific literature across 25 states, meaning a large majority of the historically known sites were no longer active.
Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan together accounted for around 63% of the vulture nests recorded during the assessment. Researchers also identified 93 previously unrecorded nesting locations, taking the overall number of identified active nesting locations to 213. Of these, 103 were located within protected areas.
Alongside efforts to protect vultures in the wild, conservation breeding programmes are being undertaken at centres in Pinjore in Haryana, Rajabha Khawa in West Bengal and Rani in Assam.
The Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre in Pinjore reported significant activity during 2025-26. The centre housed 356 vultures, bred 35 chicks and released or contributed 87 birds for reintroduction programmes, according to the environment ministry.
The centre also transferred 90 birds to other conservation-breeding institutions and provided training to 1,222 participants representing 22 institutions.
The Pinjore facility is jointly run by the Haryana Forest Department and the Bombay Natural History Society. It focuses on breeding three critically important species — white-rumped, long-billed and slender-billed vultures.
Yadav’s call for continued conservation measures comes as India seeks to rebuild vulture populations through a combination of habitat protection, safer veterinary practices, conservation breeding and reintroduction programmes. The creation of Vulture Safe Zones, along with responsible livestock carcass management, remains an important part of efforts to ensure the long-term survival of the country’s declining vulture species.
