Rare Himalayan vulture under treatment

A seriously injured and emaciated Himalayan vulture, found at Taltola village in Sreemangal upazila under the district on Monday, is undergoing treatment at Bangladesh Wildlife Service Foundation in the upazila town.

“Sree Gobinda Das of Taltola village captured the rare animal when it fell down from a tree at his house. Later he arranged sending it to Wildlife Service Foundation,” said Tabibur Rahman, assistant conservator of Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation Department in Moulvibazar.

“This vulture is in a very critical state. It can hardly walk or lift the head. It is being given saline water. It weighs below one kg although such vultures usually weight three to five kg,” said Sopon Deb Sojol, director of Bangladesh Wildlife Service Foundation.

“A few weeks ago, Md Saidul Islam Sahin of Dakkhin Borohat area rescued a vulture from drowning when it fell into a pond. That bird is also under treatment at Bangladesh Wildlife Service Foundation,” he said.

Md Nurul Mohaimen Milton, general secretary of Environmental Journalists Forum, said, “Arrival of wildlife in localities indicates serious degradation of their habitat. We should think about the ecological health of forest areas.”

 Most of the vulture species have disappeared from Bangladesh as well as other South Asian countries, said RSM Monirul Islam, divisional forest officer of Sylhet Forest Division.