Rupi Mangat
2 November 2009
Nairobi — The Bombay Natural History Society of which research Dr Viblin Prakash is a deputy director and the Indian Veterinary Research Institute have come up with an alternative drug which is just as good a painkiller as the banned diclofenal without the negative consequences.
"Meloxilam came on the market in 2006. Initially it was expensive because few were manufacturing it. But now it's available everywhere bringing down the price," says his wife Nikita Prakash. "What's needed is a strong public awareness campaign about the drugs and vultures."
One of the most bizarre revelations that have emerged from the vultures vanishing population is that few children born in India from 1990 onwards, have never seen a vulture.
I find that believable for during my one-month stay in the country, l only saw one vulture, an Egyptian vulture in the vast plains of Rajasthan near Jodhpur.
Even more shocking is an incident of a vulture rescued by villagers who had no idea that vultures eat meat.
They fed it on chapatis, almost killing the bird.
Saved in the nick of time, it was taken to the Pinjore sanctuary.
Some of the reported new threats to vultures are the glass-coated strings used for India's frequent kite flying festivals.
Rivals try to bring down their opponent's kites and the glass coated strings cut through ordinary strings with ease.
For any bird, this is a perilous time, as many have had their wings torn or sliced off in midair.
A causalty is at Pinjore with an amputated wing.
In the wild it would have died, but at Pinjore it has a specially placed low perch and nest and a vulture hospital on site tends to birds in need of medical attention.
In 2005, a honey tries to get to the beehive in a nearby tree, disturbing the bees with the result that an angry swarm buzzed right into the aviaries stinging the vultures.
"It was horrific. The vultures were shrieking in pain and three White-backed vultures died of anaphylactic shock. However we managed to save 10."
All's not doom and gloom though as a recent report in the Indian dailies writes of a sighting of 200 bearded vultures in the remote area of Lahaul Spiti in the Himalayas.
Once common in the high mountains of Kenya, the bearded vultures are now extinct here with the last sightings being in the 1980s.
Kenya unfortunately also holds the record for the largest number of vultures killed in one incident.
In 2004, 187 vultures died on the Athi-Kapiti plains adjoining the Nairobi National Park in 2004 after feasting on a dead animal that had been laced with furadan, still easily available over the counter.
Although it is supposed to be used as an agro-pesticide on crops by farmers, it has found other uses such as poisoning problem wildlife.
It's also used by fishermen to make an easy catch from the water by simple throwing the poison overboard.
The dead fish pop up to the surface for the fishermen to scoop up.
A recent report by vulture researchers in Kenya reveals that at Bunyala Rice Scheme in western Kenya by the shores of Lake Victoria, thousands of birds are being poisoned every week.
Bird meat is a delicacy among the local Bunyala and they have found that the use of furadan is an easy "hunting" option to get birds for sell.
In small doses, furadan poses little danger to humans but the long-term effects could be serious.
At this point there are five vulture breeding centres in the world -- three in India, one in Pakistan and one in Nepal.
Vultures are integral for healthy environments, feeding on carcasses that would otherwise rot and become breeding grounds for numerous diseases.
However, to stop the vultures from vanishing forever, there is a need for both public awareness and the political will to see lethal chemicals like furadan and diclofenac taken off the shelves and a stop to their manufacturing.
In India, even though the issue of diclofenac has been discussed in parliament and despite the Drug Controller General of India issuing a letter to all state drug controllers to stop issuing licenses and also to withdraw licenses to manufacture the diclofenac for veterinary uses, farmers are substituting it for furadan formulated for human use.
In Kenya, despite many calls to politicians, furadan is still on the market and used rampantly in the country.
The time to save the vultures is now before it joins the dodo on the extinction list.
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