RAHIM YAR KHAN: A white-backed vulture (Gyps Africanus), a critically endangered species, was captured on Tuesday from a field near Gharibabad locality of Rahim Yar Khan.

A citizen said he captured it with three other persons when it was sitting in the field in dense fog in the morning. Seeing the citizens, the vulture tried to take a flight but it failed and was captured.

The bird was handed over to the wildlife department.

District Wildlife Officer Asim Kamran told Dawn the captured bird was temporarily shifted to the RYK Wildlife Park and was being kept in a cage. He said it was an oriental white-backed vulture and its zoological name was Gyps Africanus.

He said there were eight species of vulture in Pakistan and white-backed vulture was one of them. He said the scavenger bird had a significant role in environment as it fed on the carcasses of animals and had flights in the desert.

Mr Kamran said the bird was a common sight in the Pakistan, India and neighbouring countries but due to use of Diclofenic potassium and sodium injections in animals, vultures’ kidneys and liver were affected, causing their deaths. He said that 99pc of the species had become extinct in Pakistan but India had imposed ban on use of Diclofenic potassium since 2006 but in Pakistan the medicine was still in use.

He said the International Union of Conservation of Nature had declared it endangered in Pakistan and the Punjab Wildlife department had started a project at Changa Manga for its conservation.

The captured vulture would be shifted there soon.

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2019