Kolkata/ Alipurduar: Eight vultures have been released in Rajabhatkhawa at the Buxa Tiger Reserve in north Bengal, a forest official said on Sunday.
While two of them are captive bred white-backed with satellite transmitters fitted, six others are Himalayan griffon species with wing tags, Chief Wildlife Warden VK Yadav said.
The eight birds were released on Saturday.
Yadav said there are 140 vultures in the conservation breeding centre at Rajabhatkhawa in Alipurduar, and of them, 76 vultures had been born in captivity since 2006.
"Our conservation breeding programme is quite successful and we are going to expand it by the construction of two more aviaries at Rajabhatkhawa," he said.
"We are planning to start a breeding programme for another critically endangered vulture -- the king vulture, also known as the red-headed vulture -- at Rajabhatkhawa in 2021," he added.
Replying to a question, Yadav said that after finishing the ongoing waterfowl census, the forest staff, NGOs and bird watchers will be involved in census of vultures in the entire state, beginning in the first week of February. PTI SUS SBN SOM