Sholay's Ramgarh may soon get a breeding center for vultures
Remember the rocky terrains featured in cult Hindi movie Sholay? Now, 44 years down the line, the popular shooting location, Ramanagara in Karnataka, will reportedly see the establishment of a new breeding center for vultures, in an attempt to save the critically endangered bird species from extinction. The proposal has been put forward by the state forest department. Here are more details.
Well, you might not be aware of it but the region where Gabbar wreaked havoc decades before, is home to country's only vulture sanctuary, known as the Ramadevarabetta Vulture Sanctuary, that was set up in 2012. Now, if the said proposal comes to action, the state will have its own breeding center, that shall be modelled on the vulture-breeding center in Pinjore, Haryana.
Reportedly, breeding of vultures has not been sufficiently productive in the recent years, which is why the state forest department has now sought to build a breeding center, in order to avoid further decline in the already negligible population of vultures. If the proposal sees the light of day, a breeding center will come up at Bannerghatta and a releasing center at Ramadevarabetta.
Notably, a whopping 97% of the long-billed variety and 99% of the Egyptian vultures have disappeared over the years. This has prompted the government to allocate 346.41 hectares as a protected area for the vultures. In 2017, the central government declared this region as an eco-sensitive zone. The population of long-billed vultures has come down from 16 to five in the last five years.
