Vultures: India
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Egyptian vultures
Breeding, state-wise
Patiala university campus, Punjab
Safe haven for endangered Egyptian vultures
Breeding of the rare and threatened Egyptian vultures in a human habitat at the Punjabi University campus in Patiala has come as a pleasant surprise for birding enthusiasts.
“It is nothing short of a surprise, though a pleasant one, that the Egyptian vulture is successfully breeding within a human habitation in Punjab and, more importantly, has become a resident species,” T.K. Roy, an ecologist and Delhi State coordinator at the Asian Waterbird Census, told The Hindu .
‘Endangered’ red list
The Egyptian vulture ( Neophron percnopterus ), one among the globally threatened vulture species found in India, is classified under the ‘Endangered’ (EN) red list of the International Union for Conversation of Nature (IUCN). The species is popularly known as safed giddh (white vulture) in Hindi.
According to BirdLife International, a global partnership of organisations working for the conservation of birds, the present global breeding population of the Egyptian vulture is estimated to be 12,000 to 38,000 individuals.
“This scavenger has found an undisturbed and safe roosting space here on the campus and hence it is breeding successfully. Within a two-year-plus period, between summer-monsoon 2015 and summer-monsoon 2017, its population has increased from one breeding pair to eight individuals at present,” said Mr. Roy, who recently visited the campus.
Largest colony
Dr. Onkar Singh Brraich, Assistant Professor with the Department of Zoology in Punjabi University, said that very few colonies of Egyptian vultures are left in Punjab, and the largest colony of the bird has been spotted near Ropar, on a site where carcasses of dead animals are dumped.
“We are fortunate that the bird is successfully breeding here. Employees are also well aware and they also help us in their conservation. Recently, one of the juvenile birds had accidentally fallen on the ground and it was safely rehabilitated to its nest. In the campus, one pair breeds on the top of observatory building and another is on the roof of one building, under the water tank,” he said.
Feed on carcasses
Egyptian vultures usually build their nests on the cliffs of mountains, roofs of buildings and on tree-tops. The species rarely hunt its food — the birds mostly feed on dead carcasses of animals, birds and reptiles. They eat eggs and sometimes, in the absence of animal carcasses, switch over to household solid waste like rotten fruits and vegetables.
At Jorbeer they are mainly from Central Asia
January 24, 2022: The Times of India
JAIPUR: After studying migratory birds’ path, wildlife researchers have revealed that majority of population of Egyptian vultures coming to Jorbeer in Rajasthan and other parts of the country during winters come from Uzbekistan and other Central Asia countries.
Earlier, it was believed that the maximum population of Egyptian vultures found inside the country are residents and do not migrate from other countries. However, after following the path of three birds tagged by the Bulgarian Society For Protection of Birds, it was learnt that the majority of the Egyptian vultures have migrated. Senior wildlife researcher and member of Raptors Research Foundation, Dau Lal Bohara said, “Although Egyptian vultures are not truly migratory. they do travel between resident and breeding areas to a greater extent than do most other vultures. The population of Egyptian vultures in Jorbeer was recorded at 2,600. Once these birds left to other places in the country, the number was reduced to 700.”
Researchers informed the three Egyptian vultures — Anya, Arys and Timur —, which had undergone their first autumn migrations, were tagged in Uzbekistan. Out of three tagged birds, two came to Rajasthan.
All three birds initially flew south over Turkmenistan before taking very different routes. Timur covered more than 3,800 miles (6200km), passing through Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia before settling in Yemen. This bird did not come to India.
However, Anya crossed onto Iran and flew over Afghanistan, Pakistan before coming to Jorbeer after covering a distance of 1400 miles (2300km). She also visited areas including west of Shiv and Barmer since her arrival.
Similarly, Arya travelled approximately 930 miles (1500km), Afghanistan and Pakistan before also settling in Rajasthan. He crossed the border into Rajasthan/India on 18 September 2021, to reach Bhadriya (60 km east of Jaisalmer).
Vladimir Dobrev (Bulgaria), who is associated with the project said, this work was carried out within the framework of the OSME, Oriental Bird Club and Hawk Conservancy Trust Program to study migration routes and wintering sites for vultures nesting in Uzbekistan. “These birds were tagged in Kyzylkum Desert. The population in Uzbekistan is 135 pairs. Studying migration routes is one of the most important tasks in identifying threats to our vultures.”
Despite the site being of international importance, Rajasthan was not included in the Centre’s action plan for Vulture Conservation in India (2020-2025). Danveer Singh, a bird watcher said, “The birds of prey in Jorbeer, the preferred vulture habitat, are alarmingly falling prey to two medicines, Aceclofenac and ketoprofen administered by veterinarians in cattle. Moreover, mortality continuously occurs due to electrocution. A conservation plan for this site should be prepared,” he said.
Griffon vulture
Sighted in 2021
Rahul Gayakwad, May 27, 2021: The Times of India
From: Rahul Gayakwad, May 27, 2021: The Times of India
Griffon vulture — an Eurasian migratory bird found in Tibet, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Mongolia, west China etc. — was sighted for the first time in the Jungli Jaigad forest area.
Deputy director of the Sahyadri Tiger reserve Uttam Sawant said, “Our range forest officer Snehal Magar and forest guard Santosh Chalke spotted the bird while patrolling the fort area of Jungli Jaigad of the Koyna wildlife sanctuary, which is a part of the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve. Chalke clicked photographs of the bird and contacted ornithologist Rohan Bhate for more information. Later, we got to know that it was a rare bird that had been spotted for the first time in the tiger reserve”.
Bhate, who is also an honorary wildlife warden, said, “Griffon vultures ( Gyls fulvus) are rare birds that breed and lay one egg in nests usually on the high cliffs in Southern Europe and North Asian countries.”
Himalayan vultures
Found in
Chambal
Faiz Siddiqui, New nest? Himalayan vultures found in Chambal, June 18, 2017: The Times of India
Good news for wildlife lovers: the Chambal region could be home to the endangered bird of prey , the Himalayan vulture. The UP forest department rescued a baby Himalayan griffon, also known as the Himalayan vulture, from Lavedi area of the Chambal region, months after an adult bird was found in Bakewar.
Ornithologists are now exploring the possible nesting places of the bird in the dry landscape of Chambal.
Etawah forest officer Vivekanand Dubey said photographs of both the birds were sent to ornithologists across the country to confirm the species of the two birds, said Dubey . He added that the Himalayan vulture rescued from Lavedi on June 6 was six months old.
“The juvenile vulture was found at Mahatma Gandhi Inter College in Lavedi in a critical condition... It is now getting well. We feed it 250g of goat meat daily,“ Dubey said.
The other vulture was rescued by villagers in Bakewar on December 23, 2016, but the bird died during treatment.
Environmentalist San jeev Chauhan said the sighting of both an adult and a juvenile in Chambal was “a sign of hope“. “It's impossible for a juvenile vulture to fly more than 500km to reach the plains from the nearest Himalayan ranges,“ he said.
Vultures nearly got extinct as a result of consuming carcasses of cattle given painkiller diclofenac to make them work longer hours right through the 1990s. The vultures suffered renal fail ure and fell in tens of thousands throughout the decade.
The falling numbers were particularly mourned by the Parsis, who traditionally leave the bodies of their dead on the tower of silence to be consumed by vultures.
After diclofenac was banned in 2006, a census of vultures in 2011 revealed 2,000 birds in UP alone. A good number of these were seen at Suhelwa Wildlife Sanctuary in Terai region and Kaimur in the Vindhya belt.
There were half a dozen species of vultures in UP, including oriental whitebacked; long-billed; slenderbilled; griffon; king vultures, and white scavenger.
Population
‘Vultures’ services; their declining population
Wildlife scientists think an unprecedented decline in India’s vulture population is spreading zoonosis (diseases from livestock to people). Deepak Apte, director, Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), a 140-yearold wildlife research organisation and India partner of Birdlife International, a global partnership of conservation organisations, talks to Taru Bahl about the role vultures play in waste disposal:
What’s the significance of vultures in preserving human life and the ecosystem?
Vultures are often misunderstood and considered lowly creatures. This is largely due to their eating habits since they feed mostly on dead animals and are therefore associated with death, making them appear sinister and full of foreboding. However, most people do not see their significance as scavengers. They play a key ecological role providing society with health benefits. Vultures formerly disposed of 10 million tonnes of rotting meat every year in India. This role has diminished with 99% decline over the last 20 years, with implications for environment, economics and human health.
India lacks facilities for incineration and sophisticated carcass processing, so slaughterhouse waste and dead livestock from farms have traditionally been dumped on the edge of towns and cities.
Relying extensively on vultures for clean-up, this work is left incomplete.
Since there are not enough vultures, there has been a 30% increase in feral dogs that feed on carcasses. As the main vector of rabies that kills an estimated 7,000 people in India every year, this is a cause of concern. Disposal of carcasses in the absence of vultures is another difficult and expensive task with many skin and bone collectors complaining that they miss their vulture-aides.
What is the current vulture population in South Asia?
Since the early 1990s, the population of South Asian vultures has been undergoing sudden collapse with heaviest impact on four of India’s nine species of vultures, namely, the three Gyps vulture species and the red-headed vulture which are now recognised as critically endangered, globally. Numbering tens of millions in India alone, the white-rumped vulture was considered the most abundant large raptor in the world, but presently, only an estimated 8,000 remain, of which 6,000 are in India. The reduction in population size of the three Gyps species was estimated, through systematic monitoring, to be between 96.8% for long-billed vulture and 99.9% for white-rumped vultures within a period of barely 15 years. These four species might soon be extinct in India and globally, since majority of the populations of all four species are found in India.
Why is the vulture population dwindling?
A major reason for the dramatic decline in Gyps vulture populations is veterinary use of the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug [NSAID] diclofenac. Its use has been banned, but illegal sale of human diclofenac for veterinary use continues to be a problem across India. Diclofenac is proven to be toxic. Other threats to vultures which are currently less important than toxic veterinary NSAIDs include accidental killing by poison baits, and collisions and electrocution by power infrastructure.
Is enough being done to reverse this damage?
The government and conservation community are well aware but a lot more needs to be done, especially in emphasising just how deadly the NSAID threat is for the vulture populations. The government, on its part, is stepping up support for key actions with breeding/ release programmes, updated national action plans and efforts by the Indian Veterinary Research Institute, amongst others. Maintaining existing vulture conservation breeding programmes, developing national reporting systems for vulture deaths with written recording and data storage protocols and pathways for immediate transportation and reliable tissue analysis are the need of the hour.
What priorities have been set by the Birdlife partnership for India?
The Birdlife partnership is working in Asia, Africa and Europe to save vultures from extinction. India has drawn upon husbandry and release expertise from Europe and North America and is at the forefront, especially with efforts to reduce potentially devastating impacts of NSAIDs, safety testing of veterinary drugs on vultures, besides pushing for implementation of bans and restrictions for toxic drugs. The Saving Asia’s Vultures from Extinction (SAVE) consortium has 24 regional and international members. In India, BNHS is partnering NGOs like Savera Trust to work on environment sustainability issues. They are overseeing and coordinating conservation, campaigning and fundraising activities to relieve the plight of South Asia’s vultures besides strengthening breeding and release programmes.
Apart from vulture preservation, what are the other birds India needs to protect?
There is an urgent need to work on conservation of grassland birds and birds like the Great Indian Bustard, Bengal Florican and Lesser Florican which are on the brink, with rapid destruction of grassland habitat across the country. Not realising the sensitivities that lie on the human-animal-environment interface will cause massive disruption, as is being seen in the case of Covid-19. We can no longer afford to ignore these linkages.
1990s>2019
February 11, 2020: The Times of India
The population of vultures, which are carrion-eaters and considered quite useful for ecosystem services such as scavenging, has declined sharply in India from four crore to less than four lakh in three decades, environment minister Prakash Javadekar said.
“In India, vultures died after consuming dead cattle, which were given ‘diclofenac’ drug, and their population reduced from four crore to less than four lakh. We are taking efforts to revive the population,” said Javadekar while addressing a press conference on the upcoming 13th Conference of Parties (COP13) of the UN Convention on Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS).
‘Diclofenac’ is a veterinary drug which is used to treat cattle. It leads to death of vultures who feed on dead animals.
Population: city-wise
Ahmedabad/ 2022
Himanshu Kaushik, Dec 15, 2022: The Times of India
AHMEDABAD: The Smart City has ceased to be a home for vultures. The population of the avian scavengers in Ahmedabad city has registered a 100% collapse, according to the recently concluded vulture census. The nesting sites in areas like Indian Institute of Management (IIMA), Cantonment, LD College of Engineering, Ahmedabad Textile Industry's Research Association (ATIRA) and Gujarat College have vanished. These spaces, open and green once upon a time, were preferred by the saprophages for roosting. Loss of habitat and extensive use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like diclofenac, used to treat domestic cattle, are the main reasons for the disappearance of vultures from the city, said experts.
About 15 years ago, Ahmedabad district had 254 vultures including white-rumped, Indian and Egyptian species. But the recent census reveals that only 21 resident vultures and three cinereous vultures (migratory species) are left in the district and that too near a panjrapol in Viramgam.
The two-day 'Vulture Population Estimation - 2022' exercise was conducted by the Gujarat forest department in collaboration with the Gujarat Ecological Education and Research (GEER) Foundation and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The census is conducted every four years.
Karthik Shastri of the Jivdaya Trust, who was part of the census exercise in Ahmedabad, confirmed that the city does not have any white rumped vulture. "The city had several vulture nesting sites, but these are no longer preferred by the birds. We could only count 21 in the entire district, and all were in Viramgam. Two cinereous vultures were spotted in Viramgam and one in Dabla," he said.
Officials said that, in 2018, at least six vultures were regular visitors at IIMA, but it does not have a single one now. The construction and development work within the campus and in the surrounding areas have led to the decline of the vulture population.
"Earlier, there were open grounds and trees at Gujarat University, but huge buildings have sprung up here. Even the IIMA campus has seen more development over the years, which may have forced these birds to roost elsewhere," said Aditya Roy, a scholar engaged in vulture research. He also attributed the drop in vulture population to the extensive use of drugs like diclofenac, nimesulide, ketoprofen and aceclofenac. He said that while the government had banned 10ml and 30ml vials of diclofenac in 2016, these are still available as 1ml and 3ml vials.
Yatri Baxi, another researcher, said, "Lack of food and global warming also have a role to play in the dwindling vulture population.”
Threats
Anti-inflammatory drug- Diclofenac
Drug ban gives vultures wings
The Times of India, February 4, 2016
Oppili P
Drug ban gives vultures wings: Ups diversity, nos.
They were natural scavengers once abundantly found across Tamil Nadu the introduction of an anti-inflammatory drug for cattle proved fatal for them. Now with the ban on the drug, the population of vultures is steadily on the rise.
Southern India is home to four species of these birds of prey . While the long billed, red-headed, white-rumped vultures are seen in the state, the Egyptian vulture which is largely found in neigh bouring Karnataka and made its first ap pearence here last year, say research ers. Estimates show there were 120 white-rumped, 22 long-billed, 20 red headed and 30 Egyptian vultures in the state in 2015.
Though there are no updated sta tistics at present, increased sightings of vultures in various parts of the state h a v e been reported in the past couple of months. A fortnight ago, Mudumalai Tiger Reserve field director Srinivas R Reddy said about 20 vultures swooped down behind their office in Theppakkadu in the Nilgiris to feed on a carcass. “We spotted a carcass of a spotted deer around a kilometre from the reception range office, when suddenly at least 20 red-headed and white-rumped vultures descended on the carcass. This clearly shows their population in the wild has increased considerably ,“ said Reddy .He added that the sighting of this large number came as a surprise to the officials.Vultures are known to be found in the areas under Nilgiris north forest division like Siriyur in Vazhaithottam and Mangalapatti in Thengumarahada and the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve.
But the sighting is not that unexpected considering that a white-rumped vulture pair was spotted in Pulicat during Pongal by a young bird watcher Vikas Madhav while conducting a bird count. “When I was recording the birds I sighted, I saw a pair of unusual ones. When I took a closer look I identified them as white-rumped vultures,“ he said. “This is significant as it is the first ever vulture sighting in Pulicat area in the past two decades,“ said a member of the Madras Naturalists' Society , who had organised the bird count.
Secretary of the Coimbatore-based Arulagam, a vulture conservation organisation S Bharathi Dasan said last year many new sightings of vultures were reported across the state including in Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Nagapattinam and Tiruvannamalai districts. He said the vulture conservationists have been vociferous against use of anesthetic drug, diclofenac, used to treat diseases in cattle.Feeding on the carcasses of livestock treated with the drug proved deadly for the vultures. Since the drug's ban in 2008 the birds of prey have been able to return from the brink of extinction. Subsequently , the Centre introduced ketoprophane, an alternative of diclofenac. But conservationists opposed this move too, as the new drug posed a threat to the survival of the vultures. The Centre, however, has issued an order banning the use of ketoprophane, a couple of months ago, Bharathi said.
“Earlier whenever any animal died in the wildlife, forest officials used to bury the carcass but now with the vultures coming back we leave it in the open for them to feed on,“ said the conservationist. This has helped to bring back the ecological balance and completed the food chain, said researchers.
Vulture reintroduction programme
2024/ Tiger reserves
Mohua.Das, June 3, 2024: The Times of India
In Jan, when a bronze statue of ‘Jatayu’—the mythical vulture who fought valiantly to save Sita from Ravana—was unveiled at the Ram Temple consecration in Ayodhya, twenty real-life Jatayus or vultures—in desperate need of their own heroic rescue—were soft-released into the lush Tadoba and Pench tiger reserves in Maharashtra. This move was part of a vulture reintroduction program by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and a significant step forward in helping these unsung heroes — who do the dirty work of cleaning up after death and keeping the environment healthy — make a comeback from the brink of extinction.
Over the next one year, 30 more vultures, out of 750 whiterumped, slender-billed, and long-billed vultures bred at various BNHS centres, will be rewilded in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan.“BNHS undertook the strategy of reintroducing vultures in tiger habitats with a large prey base to restore vultures in their predestined role as nature’s sanitation crew,” says Praveen Pardeshi, president, BNHS. “We intend to do the same in sanctuaries like Melghat and Koyna in Maharashtra that don’t have vultures as well as in other states.”
Helping vultures reclaim their place in the ecosystem was crucial, according to Pardeshi, and the “next big challenge” following their 2003 discovery of ‘Diclofe- nac’, a veterinary drug used to treat cattle that was causing mass kidney failure in vultures after they scavenged treated livestock.
This revelation explained the mystery behind the massive crash in vulture population in the '80s and '90s that had baffled scientists and prompted the International Union for Conservation of Nature to declare that the Indian vulture was “only one step away from total extinction.” By 2007, 99% of vultures in India—once numbering 40 million— had disappeared, with serious consequences for the environment. Following the findings, the Indian government banned the drug’s veterinary use in 2006.
Despite this, India’s vultures continued to face threats—rapid habitat loss and starvation due to diminished forage. “Almost no farmer leaves their dead cattle outside anymore but buries them because of which no food is available for vultures, as it formerly was, in farmland areas,” notes Pardeshi. He hopes that ample food in Tadoba and Pench National Parks will sustain the vultures, al- lowing them to recycle the remains of prey hunted by tigers, leopards, and wild dogs and complete vital carbon and nitrogen cycles.
India’s vulture conservation story — that began when BNHS joined forces with the Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, and Haryana forest departments about a decade ago to breed these vital but vulnerable scavengers that often get a bad rap for their ungainly look and scavenging habits— gained international attention at the first ever World Species Congress last month.
Hosted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the virtual 24-hour gathering brought together government and environmental agencies to conservationists, wildlife groups and students to chart a “coordinated map of key actions” aimed at species recovery. It’s taken years of work to artificially hatch new fledglings of the three most endangered vulture species every year, research the safety of veterinary drugs, and identify regions in need of protection, “But the fight to revive vulture populations in the wild has not yet been won,” says Kishor Rithe, director of BNHS. “Sensitization of pharmacists and identifying vulture safe zones are some of the challenges before us,” he adds, given pharmacy surveys in 2017–18 that revealed yet again that diclofenac was still easily available.
While BNHS teams are cur- rently out in the field conducting pharmacy surveys, carcass sampling, educating cattle owners and sensitising villagers about vulture nesting colonies, they’re also raising funds to create ‘Vulture Safe Zones’ in UP, MP, and Assam, within a 100 km radius of the release sites, to keep vultures safe beyond the tiger reserves.
“Also, the birds set to take off into the wild will be GPS or satellite tagged to track their movements. With support from the central and state governments, along with international funding agencies, India will definitely be able to revive its Jatayu population to earlier times, and large congregations of vultures will finally soar in the skies freely after nearly two decades,” says an optimistic Rithe.
