Worry over vulture ‘diclofenac death’

Worry over vulture ‘diclofenac death’
Demand that state governemnt declare area within 50 kms radius of Ramanagar vulture sanctuary as drug free

Mysterious death of an adult vulture close to Ramanagar which houses Karnataka’s only Vulture sanctuary has left bird watchers and wildlife enthusiasts worried!
With the dead bird revealing all the symptoms of banned drug diclofenac’s influence, bird experts and activists want the state government to declare at least the surrounding area within 50 kms radius of vulture sanctuary as diclofenac free! The concerns over safeguarding vulture population in the state and rest of the country were voiced during a discussion marking the International Vulture Awareness Day on Saturday-Sunday in Bengaluru.
Delivering a talk on ‘Vultures of Ramanagar’, noted ornithologist from Bengaluru Dr S Subramanya threw light on the condition of vultures and widespread use of banned diclofenac drug by veterinarians.
Speaking to Bangalore Mirror on the sidelines of the event, Subramanya said, “There are about 13 vultures sighted atop the Ramadevara Betta near Ramanagara so far. About two months ago, death of an adult vulture close to the sanctuary did make us worry. Even though the visceral samples are yet to be tested, the carcass had all the symptoms of diclofenac influence suggesting that the banned drug may have been widely used to treat animals around the area. Considering that there are only a few vultures and each of them fly as long as 8 to 10 kms in search of food, the state government must declare 50 kms radius area as diclofenac free.”
Chris Bowden, programme manager, Saving Asia’s Vulture from Extinction (SAVE) said, “The vulture species are very much threatened and though there have been efforts to safeguard their population incidents like these trigger panic. In 2014 concept of vulture safe zones has been adopted by many states declaring the adjoining area of vulture sanctuary as diclofenac free. Similar efforts must also be taken up by the state government.”
Replying over the concern, a senior forest official supervising the vulture sanctuary at Ramanagara said, “In the last two-months, no death of vulture is reported within the sanctuary area. The death may have happened outside the sanctuary limits. However, in November-December there was an effort to kill vultures by lacing the meat with arsenic. We had registered a case and filed charge-sheet as well. Luckily no death happened due to that incident.”
The experts along with bird watchers of Bengaluru flocked the Ramadevara Betta on Sunday to observe the vultures. The group sighted four to five long billed vultures around the area. While the vultures have been breeding in the area, no body has seen them feeding on any animals in the surrounding area. “None of the local villagers have seen these birds feeding on dead animals. They must be flying all the way till MM Hills, Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary in search of food everyday,” opined yet another bird watcher.


The programme

The two-day discussion was part of Karnataka Forest Department’s concept of training its grass root personnel every month about wildlife and nature conservation. The programme—One Nature, brainchild of APCCF (HRD) Sanjay Mohan this time focussed on vulture conservation coinciding with International Vulture Awareness Day. Organisations like Royal Society for Protection of Birds, Nature in focus and Save Tiger First joined hands in organsing the event in Bengaluru.


The problem

Even though the Government of India had long back banned the veterinary use of diclofenac to treat animals, many are believed to using the drug till date. “The vultures feed on dead animals. If the animals are treated with diclofenac content drugs, the residuals of the drug in the dead aninals gets into the body of vultures and in less than two-day vultures die of poisoning due to drug. Though alternative drugs like meloxicam has been popularised, incidents of veterinarians using diclofenac is found in traces till date,” a bird expert revealed.



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