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A 12-year programme for the conservation of vultures, which are fast becoming extinct, WITH
three species of vultures nearing extinction in India, a conservation
programme to breed the natural scavengers in captivity has been taken
up at the Rajabhatkhawa centre in
"There has been a steady decline in the population of slender-billed, long-billed and white-backed vultures, the three species once found in abundance. Now they are on the verge of extinction," Member Secretary of the vulture conservation and breeding programme R P Saini said. "Our initial target is to breed 150 pairs of the three species in aviaries, and so far we have achieved 50 per cent success," he said. Besides Rajabhatkhawa, there are two such centres at Pinjore and Guwahati. The Rajabhatkhawa centre has 80 vultures — 49 white-backed, 19 long-billed and 12 slender-billed. He said vultures were not only natural scavengers, but also ‘natural balancers’ as they destroyed rodents in paddy fields. A 12-year programme has been taken up by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) with the Centre and state governments. The Central Zoo Authority has also been roped in for funds as it involves a few crore rupees, he said. Saini said Rs 5 crore to Rs 6 crore would be required in the first four to five years for building infrastructure, including aviaries. Since the aviaries would be in forests, power fencing would have to be built against wild animals. To avoid human disturbance, cameras would be installed in aviaries for monitoring birds from laboratories. The population of white-backed vultures has declined by more than 99.9 per cent and of long-billed and slender-billed by more than 97 per cent in the last 15 years. Diclofenac, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, given to livestock against inflammation and pain has been primarily held responsible for most of the mortalities. Vultures were exposed to the drug when feeding on carcasses of livestock, which died within 72 hours after it was administered. He said although
veterinary formulations and the use of diclofenac was banned, the drug
was still available.
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