The populations of three vulture species in India have declined drastically over the past decade due to the birds ingesting the painkiller drug Diclofenac after feeding on the carcasses of cattle treated with the drug. Diclofenac is toxic to vultures' kidneys and has caused their numbers to drop by 99.9%. Loss of vultures has increased disease transmission by allowing pathogens to spread more easily. Efforts are underway to ban dangerous drugs, establish safe zones, and breed vultures in captivity to help populations recover.

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

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

3. 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.

5. 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.

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

7. .
BUT
WHY?????
?

8. 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.

9. .
 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.

10. 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.

11. .
 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.

13. 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.

14. .
 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.
 .

15. .
 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

16. .
WOTTT
TO
DO?????
?

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. 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

21. .
 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.

22. 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.

23. 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.

24. .
GOOD
NEWS
!!!!

25. .
 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.

26. .
 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.

27. 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.

28. .