Radio telemetry almost saved this vulture
A captive-bred White-rumped vulture, tracked via radio telemetry, died after being electrocuted by a power line in the Nilgiris. The bird had become habituated to humans, complicating conservation efforts to reintroduce it into the wild.
Why it matters
The incident highlights the challenges of rewilding endangered species and the dangers posed by infrastructure to wildlife.
Vultures are drawn to ‘the dead’. This one was drawn to the living. Captive-bred and released in the wild, this White rumped vulture consistently displayed a tendency to be within earshot of smartphone-carrying primates. It had taken into its bald head that humans are providers of food. The idea was likely seeded in there when the bird had a brief stay at Kalaburagi Zoological Park in Karnataka, and nurtured in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve where it had the fortune, nay, misfortune of finding human feeders from time to time.
The article is a factual report on a conservation project and the specific circumstances of the animal's death.
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