Rare vulture released in Thailand, after bird flu fears thwarted trip to Mongolia
DOI LANG, Thailand: A rare vulture was released into the wilds of Thailand on Thursday, after bird flu fears thwarted plans to send the young bird to nesting grounds in Mongolia.
It was the end of a high-level bid to get the bird to its homeland — a saga involving everyone from South Korean diplomats to Thailand's national airline, Thai Airways.
The cinereous vulture was released from a cage along with four Himalayan griffon vultures in a mountainous part of northern Thailand near the Myanmar border.
After an hour, the four brown-and-white Himalayan griffons flew off, leaving the black, cinereous vulture standing alone, stretching its wings.
A veterinarian then picked up the cinereous vulture and threw it into the air, forcing it to fly off toward a ridge.
Chaiyan Kasorndorkbua, who helped oversee the bird's recovery and was on hand for the release, said he hoped it would fare better in the company of fellow vultures.
"When we release them in a flock, it should be easier for them to find food," Chaiyan said. "But we still need to keep on praying. Hopefully, they will find the food and will fly onto China or Mongolia or any other country where they will spend the summer."
Still, bird experts expressed doubts that the bird will survive in an environment where there is a shortage of carcasses to feed upon, and where illegal poaching is widespread.
"It could get lost again," Gawin Chutima, chairman of the Bird Conservation Society of Thailand, said last month. "It's a young bird and has no experience."
Thai Airways first announced in March that it would transport the vulture to Mongolia to help the rare bird — found lost and emaciated in Thailand — return to its natural environment.
But Thai Airways and other officials involved in the transfer said in April that China had rejected a request that the vulture travel through Beijing, due to bird flu fears.
A request for transit through Seoul was rejected over similar concerns, even though the bird was tested twice and deemed free of the bird flu virus, officials said.
The year-old vulture, not found in Thailand, had been nursed back to health by veterinarians at suburban Bangkok's Kasetsart University after apparently getting lost in late December, and ending up dehydrated and near death in southeastern Thailand's Chanthaburi province.
It is now about a meter (3 feet) tall with thick, brown feathers and an imposing black and white beak.
International Herald Tribune May 10, 2007