IN AN all out effort to stem the extinction of vultures in the country, conservationists in Nepal have opened an eatery for the unlovely scavengers. It is in the Nawalparasi district in southwest Nepal. The niche ’restaurant’ has been operating for a little over a year. Since then, the population of the vultures has almost doubled in the region.
“The number of nesting pairs rose to 32 in 2007 from just 17 in 2005,” says the local conservation group
bird conservation Nepal (BCN), which is responsible for this novel idea.
What is special about the restaurant is that it ensures the birds get food that is free of Diclofenac (toxic substance harmful for these creatures). A number of volunteers and only two full-time employees working for the eatery collect sick cows and care for them till they die. Then they physically cart them to the open field that serves as the restaurant for these birds.
“Nesting is declining in other areas where there are no such facilities. But, here they are getting safe food, which is why the numbers have gone up. The ’restaurant’ has definitely contributed to this increase,” the group’s conservation officer Dev Ghimire has been quoted as saying to a science journal.
This is only a faint silver lining. For the number of vultures is still declining.
The vulture crisis that hit south Asia in the 1990s decimated the Gyp vultures. It was caused by the anti inflammatory drug called Diclofenac. It was used as a pain killer on cattle. The carcass of cattle when eaten by vultures caused kidney failure. The worst hit was the Oriental white rumped; 99 per cent of the population was wiped out between 1992 and 2007. In 2006 governments banned the use of Diclofenac. Meloxicam was introduced as a safe substitute.
And yet, the situation continues to be grim. In a recent report the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) has said vultures may soon become extinct in India if their population continues to decline at the present rate; 99 per cent of the bird population has declined at the rate of around 50 per cent every year.
“At present, there are only 11,000 vultures remaining in India. If it continues to decline at this rate, only around 6,000 vultures will be left and finally they may become extinct,” Arshad Rehmani, director of BNHS has been quoted as saying.
Despite the introduction of the safe drug Meloxicam, Diclofenac is still being used in India and Nepal. At the Rani Vulture breeding and conservation site in Guwahati, for instance, the population of Gyp vultures is fast disappearing. Field workers and researchers on the ground attribute it to the use of Diclofenac.
“Since the drug is no longer manufactured in India, it is being smuggled in from Bangladesh,” says Moloy Baruah, director of the conservation group, Early Birds. His team found evidence of Diclofenac manufactured by a Bangladeshi company.
Wildlife enthusiasts are launching aggressive campaigns to enforce the ban on the use of Diclofenac still widely available in India. Other groups are focussing on providing safe food for vultures. Perhaps they could consider taking a leaf out of the Nawalparasi experience to save these scavengers facing extinction. They do look ugly, but they are certainly essential for the hygiene of our community.
