UP's first conservation centre for vultures to come up in Gorakhpur forest division

will be completed in four years and most positively we will start breeding and conservation of red-headed king vulture by next year,” Kumar said. The establishment of the centre will be under the control of Gorakhpur forest department and Bombay Natural History Society and the Wildlife Research Institute will provide technical help, the DFO said..

Uttar Pradesh's first vulture conservation and breeding centre is set to be established at Bhari Baisi village in Farenda range of Gorakhpur forest division, an official said on Friday. According to DFO, Gorakhpur division, Avinash Kumar, the proposal of establishing the centre, which will also be the first in India to be dedicated to red-headed king vulture, was approved on Thursday by the joint secretary of the state's Environment, Forest and Climate Change department, Deepak Kohli.

"This vulture breeding and conservation centre will be the first in India which will be dedicated to king vulture and also the first vulture conservation and breeding centre in Uttar Pradesh," Kumar said. He said the centre will be established on the lines of Haryana's Pinjore vulture conservation and breeding centre.

Kumar further said the state government has already allocated Rs 82 lakh for the vulture conservation centre which will come up over 5-hectare area. "The project will take 15 years to be fully completed and it will cost around Rs 15 crore but the basic infrastructure of the centre including lab, breeding centre, quarantine centre, residential complex for doctors and staff etc. will be completed in four years and most positively we will start breeding and conservation of red-headed king vulture by next year," Kumar said.

The establishment of the centre will be under the control of Gorakhpur forest department and Bombay Natural History Society and the Wildlife Research Institute will provide technical help, the DFO said..