Bhubaneswar: Nandankanan Zoological Park has initiated steps to bring at least 10 pairs of vultures from the Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre (JCBC) at Pinjore in Haryana to strengthen its captive breeding programme for the critically endangered scavenger bird.Nandankanan’s Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre (VCBC) currently has five pairs of long-billed vultures. “We have written to the Central Zoo Authority (CZA), seeking its approval for bringing the vultures in order to take conservation breeding further at Nandankanan,” the zoo’s deputy director, Pradeep Mirase, said.Nandankanan launched its long-billed vulture breeding programme in 2018 after receiving approval from the CZA, which had directed Gandhi Zoological Park in Gwalior to provide 12 long-billed vultures to Nandankanan. The move helped enhance the genetic diversity and breeding potential of the conservation centre.The zoo was selected in 2013 as the sixth facility in the country for vulture conservation breeding. However, the programme struggled to take off because of the non-availability of breeding stock. In 2014, the CZA had directed the JCBC at Pinjore to provide 10 pairs of white-backed vultures, but the transfer could not materialise.Officials said complete extinction of vultures from Odisha has made it impossible to source birds from the wild. Recognising the alarming decline of the species, Nandankanan established the dedicated breeding centre in 2012 to support conservation and future population recovery efforts but breeding started only in 2018.The absence of vultures in Odisha was also acknowledged by forest minister Ganesh Ram SinghKhuntia in the assembly in Aug 2024. The minister had stated that no vultures had been sighted in the state and, therefore, no census had been conducted. He said awareness programmes were being carried out among local communities and forest personnel for vulture conservation.Of the 23 endangered species identified by the CZA for conservation breeding in India, Nandankanan was entrusted with breeding programmes for the white-backed vulture and the Indian pangolin. The zoo has since emerged as the country’s independent hub for Indian pangolin conservation breeding and is now aiming to strengthen its role in vulture recovery as well.