KARACHI, Feb 22: The Ornithological Society of Pakistan (OSP) has urged the Sindh Wildlife Department to allot it a couple of acres of land and also grant permission to establish a Vulture Rescue Centre (VRC) in Nagar Parkar - Thar desert - it is learnt.

According to sources, the OSP has further requested to the department for permission to capture, hold and transport vultures to the United Arab Emirates where they would be used for captive breeding.

The sources said that the need to establish the VRC had been highlighted at an international workshop in Kathmandu which stressed on captive breeding of vultures population of which is declining fast in South Asia, particularly in Pakistan, India and Nepal.

Vultures are facing a serious threat of extinction probably owing to a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug that is used in treating cattle, cows, etc. After the sick animals, already administrated the medicine, are dead and the carcass eaten up by vultures, the latter also die from kidney-related ailments. Scientists attribute the cause of vultures' death to the drug.

The sources said that the OSP would seek technical and other assistance from the Peregrine Fund USA, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) UK, Environmental Research and Wildlife Development Agency (ERWDA) UAE, and other such institutions to establish the VRC and carry out its research.

Population of at least two vulture species - long billed and white backed - has declined drastically in the country and the OSP plans to catch about 100 pairs of the bird and keep them at the centre before airlifting them to the captive breeding facilities of the ERWDA in UAE.

Keeping in view the extinction threat, the ERWDA has offered its facilities to the OSP till the latter could develop its own captive breeding facilities in Pakistan. The ERWDA, under its multi-million dollar programme, is involved in captive breeding of the internationally protected houbara bustard, etc. for the past many years.

The healthy stock of vultures, planned to be sent to the UAE aviaries, will be hosted and bred there and some of their progeny will be repatriated to the country after conditions in the wild became suitable for reintroduction and restoration of the bird species, scientific names of which are 'Gyps bengalensis' and 'Gyps indicus'.

Removal of the birds from the wild to the captive situation where clean food is guaranteed, is expected to enhance their chances of survival and breeding, thus assisting the global survival of the species and eventual recovery of the species in the country, according to the sources.

The Peregrine Fund - World Centre for Birds of Prey, has also approached the SWD for permission so that its ornithologist Martin Gilbert could visit Nagar Parkar in Thar desert to monitor the long billed vulture colony between last week of February and first week of March.

Responding to the Dawn's queries, Sindh Wildlife Conservator Hussain Bakhsh Bhagat, who had participated in the Kathmandu meeting (Feb 5-6, 2004) said that the meeting in Nepal had recommended immediate steps to rescue vulture population.

He said that he had received the OSP request which would be processed promptly. He said steps would be taken to the counter the extinction threat effectively. He pointed out that vultures, by eating up dead animals, played an important role in protecting environment from serious pollution.