Kolkata : At a time when there is a nationwide alert on avian flu and stepped up vigil, reports of death of vultures and kites in Sikkim and north Bengal over the last few days have caused concern.

However, local experts say itis highly unlikely that the deaths could be attributed to bird flu.

Thirty-three vultures have died within a month at altitudes ranging between 10,000 ft and 20,000 ft in the Yambung Valley of the West Sikkim district. Ten kites were found dead in the plains near Siliguri in the adjoining north Bengal on Thursday.

Samples of the dead vultures and kites have been sent to the High Risk Disease Investigation Centre in Bhopal.

BNHS informed

The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), which spearheads a campaign for the conservation of vultures, has also been informed, said Usha Lachungpa, senior research officer in the Sikkim Wildlife Department. "Never before has there been reports of such a large number of vultures dying in the State," she told The Hindu from Gangtok.

"It is more likely that they [deaths] were caused by retaliatory poisoning as three dog carcasses were found in the vicinity," she added.

Samples were initially tested at the Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Kolkata, S. K. Dasgupta, Director, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services, West Bengal, said.

"Preliminary tests conducted on the dead birds reveal no symptom of bird flu," Lakmi Narayan Bandhopadhyay, Deputy Director, Animal Resources Department, added from Siliguri.The vulture population is fast dwindling and the reports from Sikkim "are an added cause for alarm.

Nearly 97 per cent of vultures have died over the past decade according to surveys conducted by experts — the rate of decline in population being the fastest for any living species in the world," said BNHS Director Asad Rahmani.

Most of the vulture deaths across the country are a result of the birds feeding on carcasses that contain traces of diclofenac sodium, a popular painkiller administered to cattle.

"Sikkim is the only State to have imposed a ban on the use of the drug earlier their year through a government notification," said the State's Principal Conservator of Forest and Secretary, Forest Department, T.R. Poudyal.

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