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Five captive-bred Slender-billed Vultures and five White-rumped Vultures were released into the wild on 7 August 2026 in the Biswanath Wildlife Division of Kaziranga National Park, Assam.
It is the world's first release of captive-bred Slender-billed Vultures fitted with GSM-GPS satellite transmitters for post-release monitoring.
The birds were released from the Jatayu Soft Release Centre at Tewaripal in Biswanath district.
They were brought from the Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre at Rani, Assam, and underwent a three-month acclimatisation period.
Both species are listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
A captive-bred bird cannot simply be let out of a cage into the wild. It has spent its life in an enclosure, has never located carrion independently, and is unfamiliar with the terrain, weather and other animals of the release area. Soft release addresses this by moving the birds to an aviary at the release site itself and holding them there for an acclimatisation period — three months in this case — so they adjust to local conditions, weather and sightlines before the enclosure is opened. The alternative, hard release, transports animals directly from a breeding facility to the wild and produces markedly poorer survival. Fitting GSM-GPS satellite transmitters before release allows continuous monitoring of movement, survival and adaptation, which is what converts a release into a scientific exercise rather than a hopeful one.
Simple Analogy: Soft release is like letting a student sit in on classes for a term before enrolling, instead of dropping them into the final examination on day one.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site in Assam best known for the greater one-horned rhinoceros; the Biswanath Wildlife Division falls within its landscape.
The scientific organisation that has led vulture conservation breeding in India and provided the technical basis for this release.
The veterinary use of diclofenac was banned in India in 2006 after it was identified as the cause of the vulture population collapse.
GS Paper 3 > Environment — conservation, biodiversity, species protection
General Awareness > Environment and species in news
General Awareness > Environment and protected areas
A reintroduction protocol in which captive-bred animals are acclimatised at the release site before being freed, improving survival compared with direct release.
The scientific name of the Slender-billed Vulture, once treated as a subspecies of the Indian Vulture.
The IUCN Red List category for species facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.
The family of birds of prey that includes vultures, eagles, hawks and kites.