Vultures conservation in India

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 A satellite tagged vulture, which went missing from Nepal was rescued in Darbhanga in Bihar earlier this month. It belongs to critically endangered white-rumped vulture species. It was used by Nepal to monitor the population of the species and the success of breeding drive.

India has nine species of vultures in the wild. These are the Oriental White-backed Vulture (Gyps bengalensis), Slender billed Vulture (Gyps tenuirostris), Long billed Vulture (Gyps indicus), Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus), Red Headed Vulture (Sarcogyps calvus), Indian Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus), Himalayan Griffon (Gyps himalayensis), Cinereous Vulture (Aegypius monachus) and Bearded Vulture or Lammergeier (Gypaetus barbatus). The population of three species i.e. White-backed Vulture, Slender billed Vulture and Long billed Vulture in the wild has declined drastically over the past decade. The decline of Gyps genus in India has been put at 97% by 2005.

Because of the evidence of widespread and rapid population decline, all three vulture species were listed by IUCN, the World Conservation Union, in 2000 as ‘Critically Endangered’, which is the highest category of endangerment.

The ecological, social and cultural significance of vultures in India may be summed up as: scavenging on animal carcasses of animals and thereby helping keep the environment clean; and the disposal of dead bodies as per the religious practices of the Parsi community. Vultures are the primary removers of carrion in India and Africa. Removal of a 3 3 major scavenger from the ecosystem will affect the equilibrium between populations of other scavenging species and/or result in increase in putrefying carcasses. In the absence of carcass disposing mechanisms, vulture declines may lead to an increase in the number of putrefying animal carcasses in the country side. In some areas the population of feral dogs, being the main scavenging species in the absence of vultures, has been observed to have increased. Both increases in putrefying carcasses and changes in the scavenger populations have associated disease risks for wildlife, livestock and humans. In the absence of any alternative mode of disposal of animal carcasses, they continue to be disposed off in the open, and with increasing numbers of feral dogs, there is increased risk of spread of rabies, and livestock borne diseases like anthrax (Prakash et al, 2003). The decline in vultures has also affected the traditional custom of the Parsis of placing their dead in the ‘Towers of Silence’ for vultures to feed upon. 

Diclofenac and Vulture Population: 

One of the hypothesis proposed as a reduction of culture population was the introduction of a new risk factor in the environment, to which the birds were exposed, just prior to the onset of decline in vulture populations. A candidate was the veterinary analgesic drug Diclofenac, which was introduced for veterinary use in the late 1980s in the subcontinent, and to which vultures could plausibly be exposed through consumption of carcasses of livestock treated with the drug, provided that sufficient concentrations of unmetabolized Diclofenac remained. Further work on this hypothesis was carried out in India and Pakistan by several organizations, including the BNHS, Peregrine Fund, and RSPB. Experiments showed that captive vultures are highly susceptible to Diclofenac, and are killed by kidney failure within a short time of feeding on the carcass of an animal treated with the normal veterinary dose. Veterinary drugs used routinely as well as those new in the market were surveyed extensively to identify those that could damage kidneys and only Diclofenac stood out. Residue analysis in kidney samples showed a perfect 100% correlation between gout and Diclofenac residues. Further, vultures fed either Diclofenac or treated buffalo carcasses, died of gout. They had the exact same pathology and tissue residues as the wild cases, the frequency of mortality being dose-dependent (Oaks, 2006). 

ACTION PLAN FOR VULTURE CONSERVATION IN INDIA 2020-2025:

The conservation actions based on the Action Plan for Vulture Conservation 2006 (APVC-2006) did produce encouraging results but there is still a lot to be done as the environment is not yet safe for vultures. So, apart from continuing all the efforts mentioned in the APVC-2006. The following urgent actions need to be taken immediately for their conservation:

1. Prevention of poisoning of cattle carcasses, the principal food of vultures 

2. Enhancement of Conservation Breeding Programme in the country 

3. Regular monitoring of vultures across the country 

4. Enhancing the vulture safe zone network by creating at least one vulture safe zone in each state and continuing to work on the existing efforts of vulture safe zone. 

5. Determining and preventing other causes of mortality in vultures 

https://moef.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/vulture_plan.pdf

https://www.ptinews.com/news/east/missing-critically-endangered-white-rumped-vulture-from-nepal-found-in-bihar/461767.html

https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/missing-rare-white-rumped-vulture-from-nepal-found-in-bihar-s-darbhanga-122112000681_1.html#:~:text=Representative%20Image-,A%20winged%20visitor%2C%20a%20rare%20white%2Drumped%20vulture%2C%20from,radar%20despite%20being%20radio%20tagged.

https://save-vultures.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/20-11-India-National-Vulture-Action-Plan-2020-25.pdf

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