Extinction of Vultures

EXTINCTION
OF
VULTURES
BY:
NIDHI ARYA
M.Sc. ZOOLOGY (F)
ROLL No.- 41

CONTENTS
 INTRODUCTION
 PROBLEM
 REASON
 CONSEQUENCES
 CONTROL
 CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION
 India has nine species of vultures in the wild.
 The Indian Vulture (Gyps indicus) is an old world
vulture and is closely related to the Griffon vulture,G.
fulvus.
 It breeds mainly on hilly crags in central and
peninsular India.
 The birds in the northern part of its range once
considered a subspecies are now considered a
separate species, the Slender-billed vulture Gyps
tenuirostris.
 These were lumped together under the name Long-
billed Vulture.

PROBLEM
 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 griffon vultures that used to number in the tens
of millions in India could be extinct in the country
within a decade, experts say.

THE DECLINE OF GYPS GENUS IN INDIA
HAS BEEN PUT AT 99.9% BY 2010.

REASON
 A virus was the initial suspect for the
disappearance of South Asia's griffon vultures.
 Then, in 2004, US scientists working in Pakistan
- which, unlike India, allowed vulture tissue to be
taken out of the country for analysis -
discovered that the birds were being poisoned
by feeding on the carcasses of cattle that had
been treated with the painkiller Diclofenac.

.
 The drug, commonly
used to treat sick cattle,
proved to be highly toxic
to vulture’s kidneys.
 India banned the
manufacture of
veterinary Diclofenac in
2006.
 However it is still widely
available.

REASON
 Cheap veterinary Diclofenac is imported from
China, and the human formulation is also
used to treat cattle.
 Because vultures flock from far and wide to
feed on a dead animal, it takes less than 1%
of cattle carcasses to be contaminated with
the drug to kill the birds off.

.
 The endangered
birds eat the
remains of the
drugged animals
and suffer kidney
failure and visceral
gout, which is
usually fatal.
 The frequency of
mortality being
dose-dependent.

CONSEQUENCES
 The most common species, The oriental
white-rumped vulture, has been declining
an average 44% per year since 2000, and
the two less common species by 16%. That
is faster than any other wild bird ever
recorded, even the infamous dodo.

.
 When an animal
dies, it becomes a
breeding ground for
all sorts of
pathogens.
 The vultures used
to feed off the
animals before
bacterial and fungus
could develop,
preventing the
spread of rabies,
anthrax and many
other diseases.
 .

.
 Feral dog population is
multiplying because
they have so much
more food and that is a
major problem for
India, which has the
highest rate of human
rabies in the world

CONTROL
 Now scientists have discovered that another
veterinary drug, Ketoprofen, is also fatal to the
birds.
 Vultures which feed on the carcasses of
livestock recently treated with Ketoprofen suffer
acute kidney failure and die within days of
exposure.
 The research was published in the journal
Biology Letters.

CONTROL
 Ketoprofen , like Diclofenac, is an anti-
inflammatory drug administered to
livestock to reduce pain and swelling
caused by rheumatism or arthritis.
 The conservation organization BirdLife
International, which sponsored the new
research, is now calling for tighter controls
on Ketoprofen.

CONTROL
 "Only Meloxicam has been established as a
safe alternative for vultures, while at the
same time being an effective drug for treating
cattle.
 The group is also calling for greater use of
another drug, Meloxicam, which is no longer
under patent and is not fatal to vultures.

EFFORTS MADE
 International workshop at Kathmandu, Nepal
in February 2004
 Workshop at Parwanoo, Haryana in
February 2004
 National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) on 17th
March 2005

.
 Vulture Breeding and
Conservation Centre
had already been
established at Pinjore,
Haryana in 2001 and
another one has been
established in 2005 at
Buxa, West Bengal.

EFFORTS
 The Central Zoo
Authority of India has
also committed an
amount of Rs.1crore
for supporting 4 such
centres in the zoos at
Junagadh, Bhopal,
Hyderabad and
Bhubhaneshwar in
2006-07.

ROLE OF IUCN
 IUCN is working with the Governments of
South Asia and a consortium of organizations
known as ‘SAVE’ (Saving Asia’s Vultures
from Extinction), which is also supported by
SOS – Save Our Species, to establish 100
kilometres radius ‘Vulture Safe Zones’ clear
of Diclofenac and other potentially dangerous
veterinary painkillers.

.
 Bombay Natural History Society (BHNS) shows
that the number of vultures, once found across
the country, increased marginally between 2011
and 2012.
 Presence of vultures in at least half a dozen
areas has been recorded for the first time by
naturalists in the Nilgiris North Forest Division
and Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR).
 A rare and endangered species of white vulture
was spotted at Sahaspur forest range of
Kawardha district in Chhattisgarh.

.
 Wetlands
International South
Asia (WISA) has
spotted several
vulture species.
 Wildlife authority of
Tripura will start
captive breeding of
vulture in Sepahijala
wildlife sanctuary
very soon.

CONCLUSION
 Vulture's ability to digest infected, rotting meat
without impending any negative effects to its
own health makes them nature's own cleaning
devices.
 To save them it is important to understand their
behaviour and breeding productivity.
 It is need of the hour to measure the vulture
population and conduct a nationwide monitoring
to produce a recovery plan by establishing
comperhensive captive care facility for sick &
potentially healthy vultures.

Extinction of Vultures

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