THAILAND: Rare vulture is released in Thailand with hopes it will find its way home to north Asia

Thai wildlife conservationists release an endangered black vulture that had been treated for injuries after it lost its way with five other vultures in Thailand's north. A rare Eurasian black vulture that lost its way and was found injured in Thailand earlier this year was released into the wild on Thursday (May 10) in the hope it will return home to north Asia. The endangered bird (Aegypius Monachus) and four brown vultures, also known as Himalayan griffon, were freed into the dense jungle of Doi Lang National Park in Chiang Mai province near Thailand's border with Myanmar, some 850 km north of Bangkok. The area is a national park under government control which should give the birds a better chance of avoiding hunters. Conservationists believe the birds came from either Mongolia or China and deviated from their migratory route to the south, falling from the skies over Thailand in January because of exhaustion and lack of food. A Global Positioning System (GPS) device has been installed on the now fully rehabilitated black vulture's wing and the four brown vultures have also been tagged. To reduce the birds' stress, the media were told to step back when the cages were opened. Kasetsart University Professor of Veterinary Science, Chaiyan Kasordorkbua, who has led the project to rehabilitate the birds, said they were now ready to fly home. "Their health and weight shows they are ready to make the long-distance trip," Kasordorkbua said. On being released from their cages, the brown vultures huddled together and then took off and soared over the jungle. The black vulture seemed unsure, however, prompting Kasordorkbua to pick it up and throw it into the air to force it to fly away. He was worried that the bird might again stray off its route if it flew alone. "The brown vultures that flew away before the black vulture is helpful in encouraging the black vulture because usually the vulture always flies with a group. It's lucky they decided to fly over this place for a while before heading north," said Kasordorkbua. The bird conservationists initially planned to send the black vulture back to Mongolia via China on a commercial flight but the plan was rejected by China because of fears of bird flu, although the bird had been tested negative for the virus. Attempts to fly the bird via Korea met with the same reaction. With a population of only 20,000 worldwide, the black vulture is on the The World Conservation Union (IUCN) red list of threatened species. The brown vulture's population has risen to one million but the birds are rarely seen in Thailand. The Thai conservationists will receive data from the microchip as to the bird's whereabouts every three days.

ITN Source | May 20, 2007

Tags:. .weight. .installed. .rarely. .professor. .although