Vultures will be counted in February-April, MP was declared vulture state in 2022

The census of vultures, which is conducted every two years, will take place on 7 February 2024. Vultures will be counted twice again from this year.

After the first count, this count will be held for the second time in April. Vultures will be counted simultaneously in forest areas across the state at the same time on both days. For this, training has been given at the state level. Now a survey is being conducted in the tiger reserves and general forest divisions of the state, where vultures are already found or where they are likely to be found. Such places will be listed by the first week of December.

It is noteworthy that the last time vultures were counted on 7 February 2022. Then in one count, 9,448 vultures were found. This data was validated. This number of vultures was the highest among the states across the country. Counting will be done twice from this year but a figure will be released after studying the evidence found in both the times. Van Vihar National Park, Bhopal has been made nodal centre for this calculation.

For the first time, the help of technology is being taken for vulture census. Actually the counting will be done manually but the evidence related to vultures like photos, droppings, their nests etc. will be uploaded in the software. On this basis, the software will help in identifying them and getting accurate information about their species

Padampriya Balakrishnan, Director of Van Vihar National Park, said that initially when the counting was started, it was done only twice, but in between, the counting started being validated only once. Now the census will be conducted twice from this year.

After state level training, training is being given at division and district level. This work is going on in different stages. For this, the responsibility has been given to the DFOs of all the districts and the field directors of the parks.

There is a vulture breeding center in Mendora area of Bhopal, which is the only one in Madhya Pradesh. Vultures are being kept here. The chicks will be hatched through artificial process from the eggs laid by the vultures in this season.