Overview
- The ten vultures—five slender‑billed and five white‑rumped—were soft‑released at Kaziranga on Friday, August 7, 2026, after three months of acclimatisation at the Jatayu aviary in Biswanath.
- Each bird carries a numbered blue leg ring and a back tag for tracking, and some reports say the birds were fitted with GSM‑GPS transmitters for continuous post‑release monitoring.
- The release is the result of a conservation breeding programme run jointly by the Bombay Natural History Society and the Assam Forest Department that began in 2007.
- India’s Gyps vultures collapsed by about 99% over two decades after feeding on carcasses treated with veterinary NSAIDs such as diclofenac, and Assam officials say more than 700 vultures have died from secondary pesticide poisoning since 2018.
- Authorities will use monitoring data and public reporting to judge survival and adaptation, and they have appealed to livestock owners to stop using banned veterinary drugs and to avoid spraying pesticides on carcasses to reduce poisoning risk.