Jatayu Vulture Restaurant in Nawalparasi

Vultures feed at a carcass at Jatayu Vulture Restaurant in Pithauli, Nawalparasi district on April 6, 2017, Thursday. Photo: RSS

Jatayu Vulture Restaurant, the first vulture restaurant in Asia, is a sanctuary for vultures set up in Namuna community forest in Pithauli of Nawalparasi district.

The vulture restaurant provides safe food to vultures and preserves them from the brink of extinction. Vulture restaurants are also idyllic place for travelers, tourists and bird enthusiasts to watch critically endangered birds in the wild, photograph them in the cameras and observe their behavioral aspects.

In the last decade, vulture feeding stations have been set up in South Asia (India, Pakistan and Nepal), South-East Asia (Cambodia) and similar programs also exist in Africa and Europe.

In Nepal there are two other vulture restaurants. Gahachowk Vulture Restaurant, which is set up in Pokhara and Gaindahwa Lake Vulture Restaurant in Lumbini. Establishment of vulture restaurants have helped in preserving white-rumped and slender-billed vultures in Nepal.

Thanks to vulture restaurants, the sight of vultures circling overhead or feasting on animal carcasses has been more visible in the recent years.