Local people have rescued a vulture of a species described as extinct from a field in Paschim Kaludanga Madhyapara village in Ulipur upazila, Kurigram.

The vulture was rescued on Sunday morning (30 January) from a field next to the house of villager Shafikur Islam Raju (named later in the report as Shafikul Islam Raju).

Local people said the vulture flew in and landed on Sunday morning, where they spotted it. They caught it and tied it by the leg with a rope in the yard of Shafikul Islam Raju's house. The bird stands more than two feet tall, has a wingspan of 9 feet and weighs six and a half kilograms. They believe it is sick, but it ate two chicks when they were offered.

Nurul Islam and Safikul Islam of the area said vultures had not been seen for about 25 to 30 years. Many used to be seen in the past, when cattle that fell sick and died were left in open fields or bamboo groves, and vultures would come in flocks to eat the dead cattle.

Fazlul Haque, the Ulipur upazila forest officer, said the department was aware of the rescued vulture, which was being kept in the care of a local man named Nure Alam. The forest department will take charge of it on Monday and release it if it is healthy, he said.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.