ISLAMABAD, April 7: Conservationists are calling it a crisis after a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) survey report revealed that the white-backed vulture is on the verge of extinction in Pakistan.

The latest survey pointed out 98 per cent decline in the white-backed vulture population. A little over a decade ago, its habitat stretched from the northern areas all the way to the coast in the south of the country. Today, the dying species is confined with its long-billed cousin (also endangered) only to a small area of Nagarparker (now a vulture safe zone) in Tharparkar, Sindh, near the Indian border. The WWF survey (2011-13) counted only 15 active nests of the vulture.

“It will be very sad if we should lose a species in these times when we have the means to save it,” said a senior official in the Ministry of Climate Change, commenting on how embarrassing and disturbing it would be if the vulture disappeared forever.

Among other reasons, such as loss of habitat and avian diseases, researchers believed that a drug called diclofenac sodium was the major killer of these vultures.

Dr Aleem Ahmad Khan, a professor at the Bahauddin Zakaria University in Multan who identified the cause of the decline in the vulture population in his research in 2003-04, explained how diclofenac sodium (a painkilling injection) was being extensively used by veterinarians in cattle and horses.

Explaining how the weight dependent drug worked, Dr Khan said: “It is stored in the body of the animal for 90 hours and slowly passed out through urine. But in most cases, animals are injected over dozes. When such farm animals died and were thrown in the open, these scavengers would swoop to feed on it. And suppose if 100 vultures feed on a carcass with diclofenac stored in its muscles and tissue, it would kill 85 to 86 of them within 60 hours. The dosage would be too high for the bird and would strain its heart muscles.”

Dr Khan, who spent roughly four years figuring out the reasons in the decline of the white-backed vulture, had predicted how the species would completely disappear in Pakistan between 2006 and 2008 if the usage of diclofenac sodium was not stopped.

Better sense prevailed and the production of the painkiller injection was stopped and banned in September 2006. But that did not stop the white-backed vultures from dying.

“The drug is being smuggled from China and still being used by vets,” Dr Khan added. According to the expert, diclofenac sodium was introduced in 1996 by a local veterinarian professor. Its market picked up quick and within four to five years its usage killed millions of vultures. Diclofenac was also found in pain-relieving drugs consumed by humans, said Dr Khan.

The extinction was not Pakistan specific. In Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and particularly India, the drug was more in use than any other country. India banned diclofenac in June 2006. And Pakistan followed immediately two months later.

A captive breeding facility was established in Changa Manga near Lahore by WWF in collaboration with the Punjab wildlife department under ‘gyps vulture conservation and captive breeding project’ with financial assistance from the UAE government.

According to Uzma Khan, the director biodiversity WWF, the 19 white-backed vultures had adapted well to their new home. But the birds had not started reproducing since they were shifted into the aviary in 2007. WWF acquired the chicks in 2003.

“They take about six to seven years to mature. Then they pick a lifetime partner. They lay an egg a year and then the pair spends time rearing it,” Ms Khan said, explaining how last year a pair laid an egg but that was infertile.

In May 2012, conservationists from regional countries, including Pakistan, met in Dehli to adopt the declaration on the conservation of South Asia’s critically endangered vulture species.

Caring for the captive birds is a constant challenge. “We have not observed such a rapid decline for any other species in our lives. The diclofenac sodium had an immediate negative effect on their numbers,” Ms Khan said, explaining how the sanctuary needed more birds to ensure survival of the white-backed vultures.

In an optimistic tone, she explained the positive side that how most conservation organisations were alert and united creating a panic in the world and working towards it.

At the same time, she was also pessimistic. After the ban on diclofenac sodium, two more drugs, equally fatal to vultures, Iboprufen and Aceclofenac, were already out in the markets.

“Only in perfect conditions (or diclofenac-free zones), it would take almost 50 years to stabilise the population of the white-backed vulture in Pakistan,” she added.