Annual Spring Meet for Vulture Conservation, Hasanur, STR

 

A two-day Vulture Conservation Annual Spring meeting of partner organisations, held recently at Hasanur, emphasised the need to keep strengthening corrective measures to further boost the vulture population.

1. S. Bharathidasan, Secretary of the host organization Arulagam, in his welcome address, stated that recent surveys indicate vulture populations are stable and showing a slow but steady increase. “This positive trend is due to the dedicated efforts of the State Forest Department, Animal Husbandry and Drug Control Departments, and active community participation,” he said, while stressing the importance of strengthening ongoing measures to further enhance vulture numbers.
2.  C. Sasikumar of the Malabar Natural History Society elaborated on various raptor survey methodologies, while A. Samson of the Bombay Natural History Society discussed vulture survey techniques, emphasising the need to improve nest survey methodologies.
3. Rajkumar of the Wildlife Conservation Foundation shared updates on conservation initiatives in Karnataka.

4. C.K. Vishnudas of Hume’s Centre for Ecology and Wildlife Biology presented a blueprint for vulture conservation in Kerala.

5.  Chris Bowden and John Mallord from Saving Asia’s Vultures from Extinction (SAVE) spoke about scientific methods such as carcass sampling and GPS tagging.
6. Researchers Revathi and Sundari from Arulagam highlighted the significance of public involvement in vulture conservation, and Natarajan, coordinator at Arulagam, reviewed the activities carried out by partner organisations from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka.