Kozhikode: For Kerala, it is one of the most-intensive and ambitious avian conservation programme. The forest department has spent most of the Rs 58 lakh it received as central funds over the past two years to ensure the survival of nearly 70 vultures, nestled in their lone habitat at WayanadWildlife Sanctuary (WWS).
Trouble is Ketoprofen - a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) prescribed by veterinarians as a pain killer for cattle - can kill vultures when they eat the carcassesof animals treated with it. They cause acute kidney failure in vultures.
Realizing the danger, TN banned the use of the drug in Nilgiris, Coimbatore and Erode in 2015. The threat of the drug is high in WWS as hundreds of bovines are turned loose into the sanctuary each day by livestock farmers. Around 25,000 livestock are set free for grazing from 107 human settlements
Recently, Hume Centre for Ecology and Wildlife Biology (HCEWB) in Sultan Bathery decided to request the state drug controller to ban the use of the drug to protect vultures. "We have decided to meet forest officials of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala to establish a safe zone for vultures in the region as they travel up to 160km and any small incident in the habitat can wipe off the population," said C K Vishnudas, researcher at HCEWB.
Conservationists are worried about the dip in the number of vulture nests from 12 in 2015-16 to just four this year, after a recent population survey at WWS. Though their nesting sites are located deep inside the forests, the birds are continuously monitored using camera traps, with eight specially-trained watchers guarding the nests throughout the year. They are equipped with trekking suites, beds, torches and other accessories.
"We cannot afford to leave anything to chance as it is lone breeding vulture population in Kerala. Extensive steps are in place to protect the remaining breeding and roosting sites from forest fires and other biotic pressures. We don't know how the effects of climate change and drought are affecting the birds," said WWS warden P Dhanesh Kumar.
Temporary camera traps were installed where carcasses of wild animals were sighted to monitor the birds of prey which flock around to feast on the dead bodies. "To ensure food availability for the birds, we are now leaving carcasses out in the open," Kumar said, adding that fire awareness programme have been carried out among tribesmen in the forest fringes to prevent forest fires.
Around 97% of the vulture population in India perished since 90s possibly due to poisoning after eating carcass of cattle treated with the anti-inflammatory drug Diclofenac. The Centre had banned veterinary use of the drug in 2006.
Currently, WWS is the only area in the state with a breeding population of two critically-endangered vulture species in the state. A survey held in 2015-16 had recorded 12 red-headed vultures and over 50 white-rumped vultures. The long-billed vulture, which used to be spotted in the sanctuary, has not been seen over the past two years.
