The Chitwan Nation Park (CNP) will relocate six female white-rumped vultures (Gyps bengalensis) in Kasara Breeding Centre to Pithauli in Nawalparasi district on April 15.

Ram Chandra Kandel, chief conservation officer of the CNP, said six critically endangered vultures were being shifted to Pithauli, where a vulture restaurant is in operation since 2006. 

The vultures will be fitted with radio collars so that their movements can be tracked.

Currently, there are 56 vultures in Kasara Breeding Centre. 

The CNP is releasing six of these vultures to the vulture restaurant in Pithauli with the hope of increasing their population in the wild.

The government has a  plan of releasing 19 vultures to their natural habitat by 2019. 

According to Kandel, vulture restaurants are crucial to conserve the population of these carrion birds, particularly if they were brought up in breeding centres. 

A vulture restaurant is an area near vulture habitat where animal carcasses are placed for them to feed on.

Chiranjibi Pokharel, chief of the National Trust for Nature Conservation in Sauraha, Chitwan, said setting up vulture restaurant was an effective way to ensure the birds’ survival and studying them.

There are seven vulture restaurants across the country.