Govt cap on drug dose may improve vulture count in city

The Times of India , Sunday, September 27, 2015
Correspondent : TNN
NEW DELHI: About two decades ago, it was commonplace to see vultures in the Lutyens' zone. Strange as it may seem but they were routinely seen atop trees on the Aurangzeb road-now Dr APJ Abdul Kalam road-by birders who have been tracking the decline in vulture numbers in the city for over decades.

Now, with the statement of the ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC) that multi-dose vials of diclofenac for humans is banned and that they will be available in single-dose vials only, birders are hopeful of vultures' comeback.

Diclofenac is an anti-inflammatory drug. It is fatal for vultures as they experience acute kidney failure leading to death when they eat the carcasses treated with the drug.

Birders claimed that despite a ban in 2006, it was never enforced. While the multi-dose vials for humans which contained about 30 to 50ml were widely used for cattle, even larger vials were sold on the sly, they said.

"There has not been a single vulture sighting within Delhi for decades now. They were seen on the outskirts in NCR. I spotted one red-headed vulture in the Bhatti mines a few months ago. The ban

was never fully implemented. This time, too, enforcement will be the key. The government should give farmers cheaper alternatives to diclofenac," said NilkhilDevasar, a birder.

T K Roy, another birder, too spotted a pair of Egyptian vultures earlier in September in the Bhatti mines area. "There were few sightings of Egyptian vultures often around Delhi but not so many of other species."

The birders are not very sure how the loss of vultures may have affected the city ecologically, but Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) says their absence may have boosted the population of other scavengers such as feral dogs and rats. "This can increase the incidence of dangerous and potentially fatal diseases such as rabies. Cattle owners now either have to bury or burn their dead animals, which increases their costs. Alternatively, they simply dispose of the carcasses into rivers which can cost us our health through water contamination," said an assessment by BNHS.

Asad R Rahmani, senior scientific adviser to BNHS, and his team have been asking for a ban on multi-dose vials for more than five years now. Rahmani feels that the Centre should make vulture conservation a part of the Swachh Bharat programme. "Their environmental services are irreplaceable. Even elderly farmers have told us that their absence has caused a huge problem of carcass waste. Now with only single-dose vials which are only of 3 to 5ml, I think villagers will stop buying them for cattle," he said adding that there were thousands of vultures within Delhi. "I saw them nesting on a neem tree on Lodhi road when I visited Delhi long ago."

The reason they were seen in Lutyens' Delhi may be because of the old trees there. Some birders also felt that there are not as many carcasses in the open anymore. But Devasar said "There are several carcass dumps still but you can see only black kites and ibis there, not vultures."

 
SOURCE : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Govt-cap-on-drug-dose-may-improve-vulture-count-in-city/articleshow/49120712.cms
 


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