Vultures fight back from brink of extinction
The Indian vulture population has stabilised for the first time in two decades, raising hopes the birds could be saved, after a catastrophic decline nearly wiped them out.
An Indian Vulture perches on a ledge on the roof of the sandstone building Photo: REX FEATURES
4:33PM GMT 12 Nov 2012
Millions of vultures from three different species died from 1992 following the
introduction of the drug Diclofenac to protect cattle from disease. But
while it saved cows and buffalo, the drug killed vultures which fed on
cattle carcasses. The Oriental white-backed vulture declined by 99 per cent,
while the long and slender-billed vultures lost 97 per cent of its
population.
Scientists warned they would be extinct within 10 years unless there was
concerted action to ban the drug and establish centres to protect the
scavengers.
Three breeding centres were established in a collaboration between Britain’s
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the Bombay Natural History
Society with support from Britain’s Department for Environment Food and
Rural Affairs (DEFRA). A ban on Diclofenac was introduced by the Indian
government in 2006.
New research shows that the number of deaths among the three
critically-endangered vulture species had been cut and there has even been a
slight increase.
But researchers warned the birds remained “extremely vulnerable” and more
needed to be done.
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