A team of naturalists from Bellary, including Santosh Martin, honorary wildlife warden of Bellary district; K.S. Abdul Samad of the Society for Wildlife and Nature (SWaN); and Anand Kundargi, naturalist from Siruguppa, have discovered the long-billed vulture (Gyps indicus), a critically endangered species.
Sixteen of these vultures, along with four Egyptian vultures, were sighted in a remote village bordering Bellary and Raichur districts of Karnataka.
“Our umpteen expeditions to discover the vultures for the past several years have at last yielded fruit. Every time we get a report of sighting of the vulture by the locals, with whom we are in regular touch, we used to rush and scan the entire area, only to be disappointed. But on Sunday we were lucky. Based on the information given by the locals, that they had seen a group of vultures feeding on a sheep carcass in a field, we reached the spot and were awestruck to see as many as 16 vultures sitting on a hill, an ideal habitat,” Mr. Martin told The Hindu.
The long billed vulture, closely related to the Griffon Vulture (G. fulvus), breeds mainly on hilly crags in central and peninsular India. Like other vultures, it is a scavenger, feeding mostly on carcasses. It often moves in flocks.
Mr. Martin, while expecting a healthy population of around 25 vultures in the vicinity, did not wish to disclose the actual location, apprehending a threat to the birds at this stage.
The vulture population has been on the decline and the reason is said to be poisoning caused by Diclofenac, a veterinary drug. The non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug is given to animals to reduce joint pain and poses a threat to the lives vultures consuming the carcass of the animal administered with the drug.
“The discovery of a flourishing population of vultures in north Karnataka throws a ray of hope for the conservation of the critically endangered vultures. Now it is our responsibility to conserve the bird and its habitat,” Mr. Samad said, adding that SWaN and Wildlife SOS, New Delhi, were planning to take up a research project on the distribution and ecology of vultures in north Karnataka.
Budding naturalist Sunaina Martin and Sonia Martin, a nature lover, had accompanied the team.
Though I am happy that some vultures of the endangered species have been sighted, I have to state my considered opinion that the attribution of diclofenac as the cause of their decline is based on very tenuous evidence. AFAIK, no actual interventional experiments have been done to show that diclofenac is toxic to the vultures. It sounds strange, anyway, because no other carrion eating birds or even other species of vultures are showing a decline. Also relevant is the finding of some Indian scientists (Ajay Poharkar st al) that malaria could very well be a cause of the decline of "white backed vultures" (the same species as those "endangered" allegedly because of diclofenac) in central India. The point is, that wrong attribution of the cause of decline could have an adverse impact on conservation efforts.
Welcome back all VULTURES.
Government Apathy and mismanagement of pharmacheutical companies for distribution of Diclorofenec in Animals and Humans (Parsis) medicines are these creatures, one of the Top levels of food chain.
GOVT ORGANIZATION AND NGOS should be serious in this matter.
Good Read for the nature lovers.Congratulations for the Team for wonderful work.
There is a great deal of hard work behind each remarkable discovery, congratulations to the dedicated team
In 1980, I used to see hundreds of these vultures near the leather
tanneries in Ranipet, Tamil Nadu. It is sad to know that the same
vultures are endangered.
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