BIKANER: Ockhi, a cinereous vulture that was rescued in an injured condition from a Kanyakumari village during Cyclone Ockhi in 2017, was released after five years on Friday.
With the efforts of the two state governments and the intervention of the central government, the bird was brought to Bikaner's Jorbeer-Garhwala Conservation Reserve Forest area on Thursday, from where it was released.
Three forest department personnel have been deployed for the monitoring and assistance of the bird. Forest department officials claimed that Ockhi was sent to Bikaner after arguably the country's biggest and longest operation. In 2017, the bird - then aged one - was believed to have separated from a cinereous vulture (Aegypius monachus) flock during the tropical cyclonic storm and was rescued from a small village near Kanyakumari. Wildlife experts named the vulture Ockhi after the cyclone in which it was injured.
After rescue and treatment, the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in its report suggested that it would be appropriate to release the bird in North India because this vulture species was not present in South India. On this, an agreement was reached between the Forest Department of Tamil Nadu and Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Rajasthan, to release the bird in Rajasthan, but before they could chalk out any plan for the shifting, the Covid-induced countrywide lockdown was announced.
Experts built an aviary at Udayagiri near Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu to keep the bird safe. As the Covid phase passed, however, airlines refused to ferry a live bird. Then, with the intervention of the Union cabinet, Air India agreed to fly the now five-year-old vulture.
A team of experts from WII, Dehradun, visited Jodhpur where officials of the Rajasthan forest department suggested that Bikaner's Jorbeer-Garhwala Conservation Reserve Forest would be the most suitable place to release the bird considering the report - of which TOI has a copy - of WII scientist Dr Suresh Kumar.
On October 13, Ockhi travelled from Kanyakumari to Chennai by road and on November 3, from Chennai to Delhi, and later from Delhi to Jodhpur by an Air India flight.