Admin
12 August 2024
*Picture courtesy livehindustan.com shows the Injured ‘Bangladeshi’ Vulture carrying a red coloured device found along the Konar dam in Hazaribagh
The recovery of an injured vulture carrying a red- black colour device from around the Konar Dam in Hazaribagh indicated that this vulture (bird) had been previously caught, tagged and released.
Konar dam is the second of the four multi-purpose dams included in the first phase of the Damodar Valley Corporation.
It was constructed across the Konar River, a tributary of the Damodar River in Hazaribagh district in Jharkhand and opened in 1955.
The location has gained significance since this injured vulture has become a talk of the town in Hazaribagh.
What has caught investigators’ attention was the small device that the vulture wore as a backpack with a harness.
Investigators( forest personnel) first thought that the red device was most likely a tracking device of some sort. Its shape, with a stubby aerial, was unlike any they knew. Most devices are simple rectangular boxes designed to minimize chafing.
The red plastic device, however, had one integral but protruding battery pods, which suggest that it was designed for extended use over long periods of time. Enquiries to the ring tag received the reply that the device was a standard piece of microwave telemetry.
The evidence in front of the authorities suggested that the device was nothing of the sort, increasing their interest. However, rumour afloat in the area is that this injured Vulture carrying the ring tag device was from Bangladesh.
No authority is in a position to confirm or reject this rumour. There are four types of telemetry commonly used for tracking wildlife: GPS data loggers, satellite transmitters, GSM units that work over telephone networks and VHF transmitters.
