No consensus on vulture census, conservation
Vulture conservation in India is in a state of flux. The only point that researchers agree on is that it is absolutely vital but there is no consensus on
how to go about it. There is a dispute regarding vulture censuses, the causes for their decline and even the measures needed to solve the problem
of the bird's relentless progress towards extinction.
Several causes have been outlined and rejected. Until the late 1990s, the debate centred around pesticides. It was reported that only four vultures
out of 2,000 remained in the Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, in 1998. And the probable reason that was given then was that the carcasses--food
for vultures--contained high level of pesticides (see 'What's eating the vulture?' Down To Earth, January 15, 1999). Research thereafter
absolved pesticides as the cause of vulture deaths. Some said a viral disease was the reason.
A study, published in Nature online, January 28, 2004 gave a new insight into the debate. It found diclofenac, a commonly used painkiller for
cattle, responsible for the decline. Diclofenac was found to lead to gout, kidney failure and the subsequent death of vultures.
Meloxicam, another non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, was suggested as an alternative because it was not harmful for vultures but has similar
medicinal properties as diclofenac. The Indian Veterinary Research Institute supported research and then came the ban on diclofenac. The drug
controller general of India directed phasing out veterinary diclofenac and replacing it with meloxicam by August 11, 2006 (see 'No side-effects?'
Down To Earth, March 15, 2006).
But diclofenac has not completely been done away with yet. Nita Shah, who runs bnhs's vulture advocacy programme,
agrees that the use of diclofenac is still prevalent. But she sees it as a challenge that needs a lot of work. Chhangani, however, feels there is more
to the vulture story. He holds mining, logging and even jatropha plantations--conditions that change the habitat--responsible for the decline.
In India, poisoning is held to be a common tool for poachers. Since vultures are scavengers and feed on carcasses, poachers poison dead animals to
kill vultures. Their motive for doing this is that forest rangers track vultures when they zero in on a carcass to locate poachers, Satheesan says.
Detailed studies, however, are yet to be done to establish this as a substantive cause.
Does it help? bnhs, under its Vulture Conservation Breeding Programme, has two breeding centres, one at Pinjore and
the other in Alipurduar,Jalpaiguri district,West Bengal. Chhangani says vultures do not mount in captivity and have, therefore, never been bred in
such situations. Chhangani also questions the ethics and protocol of breeding wild animals in captivity.
According to him, rather than catching wild individuals, one should breed the ones that are already in zoos. The first release of vultures from the
breeding centres is planned for seven to eight years from now. Chhangani believes that the numbers released will be too small for recovery of
populations. Satheesan doubts their adaptability to the wild. But Vibhu Prakash, principal scientist, bnhs, explains that
the work is based on mathematical models which have room for externalities.
Satheesan recommends feeding stations as the best solution and Chhangani is all for captive care for juveniles and injured vultures. But Shah says it
is not that simple, essentially because feeding stations need to be devoid of disease and toxins and that leaves the option for slaughter of healthy
animals. Besides, vulture deaths are rendered all the more difficult to study because, more often than not, they are in inaccessible areas where their
bodies disintegrate before experts can reach them, says Shah.
The Worldwide Fund For Nature, India, had framed a project to set up two feeding stations in 2000 but the project has not been implemented yet.
There are suggestions that the programme was sabotaged, though no concrete case has been made.
Qamar Qureshi of the Wildlife Institute of India says scientists must work in tandem to tackle the issue. In the present scheme of things, that,
however, appears a remote possibility.
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