International Vulture Day 2026 – September 5

Key facts

• International Vulture Awareness Day falls on the first Saturday of September each year.
• The Union Environment Minister led the International Vulture Awareness Day 2026 celebrations on 6 September 2026.
• India's Gyps vulture populations collapsed from tens of millions to near extinction from the mid-1990s.
• The cause of the collapse was diclofenac, a painkiller given to cattle.
• Vultures that fed on treated carcasses suffered fatal kidney failure.
• India banned the veterinary use of diclofenac in 2006.
• Later restrictions targeted other toxic veterinary drugs such as aceclofenac and ketoprofen.
• The Vulture Action Plan guides recovery through captive breeding and safe zones.
• Conservation breeding runs at centres such as the one at Pinjore, Haryana.
• Several Indian vulture species remain Critically Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
• Vultures are scavengers that clear carcasses.
• The loss of vultures raised feral dog numbers and disease risk.