WATCH: Three rescued Egyptian vultures released into the wild in Oman

Muscat: Three rescued Egyptian vultures have been released back into their natural habitat by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs, and Office for Conservation of the Environment at Diwan of Royal Court.
The vultures have been set free in the Amerat area. The endangered birds are classified as protected under the Red List issued by the International Union for Conversation of Nature (IUCN).
The three vultures had been rescued from a zoo in a gulf country on November 23. It was a collaborative effort by Environment Society of Oman (ESO) and Raptor Rehab, an organisation dedicated to the conservation of indigenous birds of prey.
They were transported to the Sultanate via the national carrier Oman Air. Initially, they had been kept in quarantine.
In recent years, the Environment Society Of Oman (ESO) has been working on a project to conserve the Egyptian vulture. The project's results clarified that the Sultanate is one of the better areas for huge numbers of this type of bird, more so than any other Gulf country.
Nicknamed the 'white scavenger vulture', the birds are found in southwestern Europe, north Africa and India. Crude population estimates put the number of the species at anywhere between 12,000 and 38,000.
Population of species declining
According to IUCN, the Egyptian vulture population has declined in virtually all parts of its range; experiencing a 90 per cent decline in India during the last decade. Its population has halved in Europe over the last three generations; alongside significant declines reported in the African and Arabian populations.