Only 260 to 270 vultures are now left in Raigad district of Maharashtra, where there were 350 birds as per 2020 estimates.
According to a survey conducted by the forest department and a nongovernmental organization, Seescap (Society of Eco-
Endangered Species, Conservation And Protection) there was a drop of nearly 23% in the number of long billed vultures, and an equal fall in the percentage for the white backed vultures (pictured) found in Mahad, Kolad, Wakan and Sudhagad. Of the nine varieties of vultures found in India these two species are only found in Raigad district, noted a news report in the SundayMumbaiMirror on April 4, 2021.
Cyclone Nisarga which hit the Maharashtra coastline in June 2020 left a trail of destruction in its wake. It also destroyed vulture habitats and trees, resulting in the population of the scavenger birds plummeting, as per the survey.
According to environmentalists, a larger number of vultures left Raigad after the cyclone, some of them flying as far as Kerala to the south and to central India. Several birds injured during the cyclone were nursed back to health by wildlife activists and forest department officials and of these, about 50-70 vultures returned to their habitat and rebuilt their nests, the report mentions. S. V.