WATCH: Locals catch vulture in Rahim Yar Khan’s Rukanpur

RAHIM YAR KHAN: Residents captured a vulture — a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion — in Rukanpur village near Khanpur, Punjab, which was later handed over to wildlife officials.

Videos showed a large number excited villagers gathered around the scavenger bird to film it which apparently fell to the ground after being separated from its flock.

One of the villagers can be heard in a video that they had taken good care of the wild vulture after he caught him a day ago and tried to feed him meat.

He added that the vulture was neither able to fly back to join its flock nor eating anything.

The villager said that he has fulfilled his responsibility by saving the vulture’s life and informed the officials of the wildlife department to nurse it back to health.

Another video showed some officials from the provincial wildlife department reaching the village to rescue the vulture. An officer told the media that they have rescued the bird which would be returned to its natural habitat after it recovers its strength.

In September, an injured leopard had been rescued by wildlife guards from a water channel in Haveli area of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

At the time of the leopard’s rescue, the animal was unable to stand or move its hindlegs despite exhibiting no visible external wounds or bleeding, leading the team to suspect severe internal injuries.

Due to a lack of specialised equipment, such as a dart gun, the rescue team was forced to use traditional methods to rescue the animal by placing a rope around its neck and then safely encaging it in a net.

The predator was later handed over to the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board’s (IWMB) rescue centre for treatment where doctors found four bullet wounds in the leopard’s body in an X-ray report.