Vultures find a new home in India

PINJORE: Ecologists are battling to save the Indian vulture, a critically endangered species that once flocked in large numbers across the subcontinent.

Forty-one of the big birds have been gathered in an aviary in the middle of parched fields in north India as part of a plan by fight extinction.

The Vulture Care Centre in Pinjore, about 300 kilometres north of New Delhi, is the region's first captive breeding programme. "The first egg will be a very special day for us," says project veterinary surgeon Debojeet Das.

"This is the high mating season. No one is allowed to go near the aviary," he said, urging quiet from visitors walking a leaf-strewn track.

"Vultures are very shy and sensitive. We don't want to take any chances. These birds are our last hope," he adds as one huge white-backed bird flies across the aviary, stretching its magnificent wings.

South Asia once provided a haven for vultures, especially in predominantly Hindu India where cattle are not eaten by humans and the carcasses left out for the birds.

With the birds of prey fast vanishing, rotting cattle are triggering diseases and attracting feral dogs, whose population has exploded, ecologists note.

The crucial link in the ecological chain began to break up in South Asia a decade ago due to poisoning from diclofenac, a cheap painkiller widely used by farmers to treat ailing livestock.

"Over the past 10 years, we have lost 97 per cent of at least three species of Gyps (Indian) vultures," Das said. "Our research has pointed to diclofenac."

The anti-steroidal painkiller, sold over the counter all over the region, is passed on to the vultures through the animals' carcasses, causing a kidney disease known as visceral gout.

As British and Indian studies pointed increasingly to diclofenac, ecologists launched the Vulture Care Centre in 2002 with funds from Britain's Darwin Institute for Survival of Species.

The centre began with just a couple of birds but over the past two years, principle scientist Vibhu Prakash and his team have managed to collect 41 vulture with a target of at least 75 breeding pairs.

They are opening a centre in West Bengal and plan another five across the country.

Tricky negotiations are also under way with the government to ban diclofenac.

"But it's not going to be an easy task," admits Prakash. "Even if you ban the drug, it would take at least 10 years for it to be removed from the shelves. We are running against time."

For the moment, Prakash and his team have to be patient and await the outcome of the breeding season which runs from October to January.

It takes four-five years for a vulture to reach adulthood and most birds at the centre are young. Only a handful have reached full maturity.

It is also difficult to distinguish males from females as there are no obvious physical differences. DNA sampling is under way but as of now, the team is unsure exactly how many males and how many females it has.

"All we have to do is wait and wait quietly," said Das. "Vultures are also very choosy about their partners but when they choose one, it's for a lifetime. Also if one dies, the other mourns for two years before mating again."-AFP