Vulture Awareness Day 2026 Marked at Panchkula, Haryana

International Vulture Awareness Day 2026 was marked at Panchkula in Haryana on 6 September 2026. Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav opened a national workshop the same day. Its theme was 'From Crisis to Recovery - Conserving India's Vultures'.

Who organised it

The Environment Ministry put the programme together with the Central Zoo Authority, the Haryana Forest and Wildlife Department, the Bombay Natural History Society and the Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre at Pinjore. Haryana's Environment, Forest and Wildlife Minister Rao Narbir Singh also spoke. Forest officers, scientists, veterinarians and zoo professionals attended.

Why vultures matter

The Minister called vultures nature's own cleaning system. They strip carcasses quickly, which recycles nutrients and keeps the ecological balance. He traced the steep fall in India's vulture numbers from the 1990s. Two causes were named: a broken food chain, and painkillers given to cattle that vultures then ate. Nine kinds of resident and migratory vultures live in India: White-rumped, Long-billed, Slender-billed, Red-headed, Egyptian, Himalayan Griffon, Eurasian Griffon, Cinereous and Bearded.

The Jatayu centre's record

The Minister began the day at the Pinjore centre, a joint effort of the Haryana Forest Department and the Bombay Natural History Society. It breeds the White-rumped, Long-billed and Slender-billed vultures and handles scientific husbandry, artificial incubation, veterinary care and genetic management.

What was asked for

Mr Yadav asked for more Vulture Safe Zones, built through vulture-safe veterinary practice and a supply of safe food. He wanted technical capacity raised so the birds can recover in the wild, and he appealed to veterinary staff, livestock owners, local administrations and communities to manage carcasses safely. He described the government's approach as ecosystem-wide rather than tied to a single species, citing work on big cats, the sloth bear, the Great Indian Bustard, dolphins, the gharial and the wild water buffalo. A coffee table book, 'Story of Jatayu: Saving India's Vulture', was released at the inaugural session, and prizes were given for online drawing and digital photography contests on vulture conservation.