After its catastrophic decline, the vulture population seems to be slowly stabilising in various parts of this region. Several species of vulture, considered to be on the verge of extinction in India, have been spotted in neighbouring States of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. In a year long survey conducted by ecologist and environmentalist TK Roy, who is also the coordinator of Asia Waterbird Census (AWC), large flocks of critically endangered species—White-Rumped Vulture (Gyps bengalensis), endangered species—Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) among others have been recorded in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. With the initiative of concerned wildlife authorities in both the states, endangered vulture species are making a comeback after a decade in several parts of the two states. Vulture restaurant, the concept for conservation and increasing vulture population in the wild by providing safe food (carcass) to vultures has helped in stabilizing the population of vultures in this region. While talking to The Pioneer, the ecologist TK Roy said, “This concept was found successful at the site ‘Chandola’ of Dhar in Pathankot district of Punjab (bordered with Himachal and J&K). The site is on the Pathankot-Dhar-Jassur highway. The project has managed to attract large flocks of four vulture species.” A large flock of more than 300 vultures including Griffin Vulture (Gyps fulvus) and Himalayan Vulture (Gyps himalayensis) together was spotted at a time during a field visit at the vulture restaurant run by Pathankot Wildlife Division by providing medically tested safe carcass collected from the surrounding villages. During several field visits in Punjab and Himachal in last one year, Egyptian Vulture, an endangered species has also been recorded in large numbers. “The same vulture restaurant concept is also partially initiated at Pong Dam Wildlife Sanctuary by Hamirpur Wildlife Division of Himachal Pradesh. The initiative has attracted good numbers of species namely White-rumped Vulture, Egyptian Vulture and Griffon Vulture,” said Roy. The vulture species have been categorized on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. And, they are also protected under Schedule-1 of the Wildlife Protection Act. According to the IUCN Red list, the White-rumped Vulture (Gyps bengalensis) is notified as critically endangered species, Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) as endangered species, Himalayan Vulture (Gyps himalayensis) as near threatened and Griffin Vulture (Gyps fulvus) as least concern species. The species notified as critically endangered, endangered and near threatened have suffered an extremely rapid population decline primarily as a result of feeding on carcasses of animals treated with the veterinary drug diclofenac in India. Roy informed that another vulture protection initiative of dumping cattle carcasses at the site ‘Kanoli’ on Chandigarh-Una national highway near Ropar (Ropar District) was organized by the local Panchayats to keep the villages and towns clean. It attracted one vulture species i.e. Egyptian Vulture in good numbers. A large flock of more than 200 Egyptian Vulture at a time has been recorded at the site. Presently, the dumping site has been shifted somewhere else, he added. The vulture, known as king scavengers plays a key role in the environment as ecosystem service provider as it feeds on carrion and keeps the natural environment clean and controls spreading viral diseases from decaying carrions. “Such vulture protection initiatives are helping increasing their population across the region. The numbers recorded during last one year study is a good indication towards the increasing vulture population in the two states. However, the concerned State Wildlife Departments need to continue serious efforts of conservation and protection under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 to increase sustainable vulture population to support natural ecosystem,” said Roy. He added, “The vulture restaurant initiative which was going on in Pathankot region since past several years, is currently non-operational due to lack of funding from the concerned State Wildlife Department and Ministry of Environment & Forests.” “At present, the SAVE (Saving Asia’s Vultures from Extinction) in collaboration with Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) are also successfully running three captive breeding centres for vultures in India i.e. in Assam, West Bengal and Haryana,” informed Roy. The three most common species of vultures in the country are long-billed vulture, also known as the Indian vulture, the white-backed vulture and the slender-billed vulture. According to a research by BHNS, the number of vultures increased marginally between 2011 and 2012 in the country. In 2012, the numbers were slightly higher than in 2011, when there were only 1,000 slender-billed vultures (Gyps tenuirostris), 11,000 white-backed vultures (Gyps africanus) and 44,000 Long-billed vultures (Gyps indicus) remaining in the country, according to the research paper by BHNS. Notably, the population of critically endangered--White-Rumped Vulture had seen 99 percent decline since mid 1990s in the Indian sub-continent due to feeding on carcass of animals, treated with veterinary drug Diclofenac. This drug leads to renal failure and cause visceral gout in vultures. In a study, it was observed that the numbers of White-Rumped Vulture declined by 99.9 percent between 1992 and 2007 each year during that period. The population of White-Rumped Vulture had an average annual rate of decline of 43.9 percent between 2000-2007.