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The Cinerous Vulture released from northern Thailand on the 10th May 2007 is believed dead after Dr Chaiyan Kasorndorkbua received a photo of the leg band and radio transmitter that had been fixed to the bird.

Just three weeks after its release in May the monitoring team lost contact with the bird and in July a soldier from the Shan State Army in Myanmar sent an e-mail to Dr Kasorndorkbua to tell him that a villager had shot the bird dead - this was followed up with the photos of the radio transmitter and leg band.

This fate, unfortunately, was all too predictable as many large bird species have been reduced to near extinction through hunting in Southeast Asia. The release site in northern Thailand was always considered risky for these reasons and was a last resort when the governments of South Korea and China refused permission for the bird to be transported through their countries fearing a risk from bird flu, despite veterinary reports stating that it was clear of the disease.

Despite the tragic ending to this story, both the Thai Raptor Group and Bird Conservation Society of Thailand remain upbeat about the rescue program saying that it did much to raise the profile of the plight of vultures in Asia.

Nick Upton, 22nd February 2007 based on information from International Herald Tribune.

Chaiyan Kasorndorkbua of the Thai Raptor Group and Kasetsart University's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine would like to urge birders who may, in future, visit China, Tibet, Mongolia or other countries of the far East and Oriental region to be aware of these wing-tagged vultures; sightings of the released vultures would be most gratefully received. Please submit sightings of any of them with the number of wing tag (if visible) to fvetchk(at)ku.ac.th or trogon(at)gmail.com.

Further pictures of the vultures, their rehabilitation facilities and release can be seen on the Thai Raptor Group's forum.

Video clips about the release can be seen here,
http://edition.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/tech/2007/05/11/rivers.thailand.vultures.ap and here, http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7563781591723863024

The release operation is part of Fly the Vulture Home Project, which is the cooperation of Bird Conservation Society of Thailand (BCST), Department of National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Kasetsart University's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mongolia's Wildlife Science and Conservation Center and Thai Raptor Group. Singha Corporation (Boonrawd Brewery Co.Ltd.) provided the finance for the satellite telemetry, Thai Airways provided air travel for a Mongolian vulture expert, the Royal Thai Air Force provided air travel of the vultures to the release site and the people of Thailand generously donated to the project.

It is hoped that the bird can be released in Mongolia where it will be able to associate with others of its species. If financial support cannot be raised for release in Mongolia, it is proposed to release the bird from Doi Lang, Chiang Mai province, in northern Thailand.

The story of this bird has created a considerable amount of public interest in Thailand and the name "Anakin Skywalker" has affectionately been given to this individual. It is hoped that the publicity generated by this bird can be used to go some way towards changing the negative view that people in the region have of large birds such as vultures.