The Hindu : Other States / Rajasthan News : Gyps vultures on the verge of extinction

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Saturday, Jun 26, 2004

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Gyps vultures on the verge of extinction

By Sunny Sebastian

JAIPUR, JUNE 25. The Gyps vultures are in danger of extinction. Their numbers have become alarmingly low on the subcontinent over a period. The latest studies indicate that out of the three species of Gyps vultures--White-backed vulture, the Long-billed vulture and the Slender-billed vulture-- the White-backed are the ones facing the most serious threat to their survival.

Things seemingly have not got any better for the descendants of "Jatayu" since 1998, when the alarm bells were first sounded on the disappearance of the birds in India and Pakistan.

The vultures, first noticed dying in large numbers in the Keoladeo Ghana National Park in Rajasthan's Bharatpur sanctuary and the Ranthambhor Project Tiger Reserve in the State, have got only closer to their final good-bye since then.

India has nine species of vultures and the White-backed(Gyps bengalensis) used to be found throughout the country once excect in the extreme south-east. The Long-billed(Gyps indicus) is a resident of peninsular India and extreme south-east Pakistan. The Slender-billed (Gyps tenuriostris)--until recently considered a sub-species of Long-billed vulture-- breeds in the Gangetic plain along the lower Himalayas from Kashmir through Nepal, Bengal, Assam and Bangladesh.

The situation is so alarming that the experts have suggested captive breeding of White-backed and Long-billed vultures under a worldwide programme besides keeping a close watch on the existing small population of these birds within the country.

"This extinction process is almost without a precedent in the natural world. It is unlikely that the disappearance of any other species of bird from the Indian landscape would have had as great an impact as the disappearance of vultures which traditionally have disposed of the carcasses of cattle and other domestic animals in an efficient and timely manner," says Harsh Vardhan, who led a team of experts on a study on the status of Gyps vultures.

"The overall picture is grim indeed. Unless all those who care as well as those who are directly responsible and able to get together to take remedial action in right earnest and with a sense of urgency, the cause of these remarkable birds will be lost forever, to the lasting shame of humankind," notes Samar Singh, President of the Tourism and Wildlife Society of India, in his forward to the report titled "Gyps vultures, Conservation strategies, 2004".

"The report, which contains details of the censuses of White-backed and Long-billed vultures in Rajasthan and in the adjoining States in 2000 and 2002 reveals that the average number of responses on sighting vultures had declined by 50 per cent within two years of the first census.

"The average number of vultures reported per respondent was 8.8 in 2000 while in 2002 it was 4.3 indicating a population decrease to the order of 50 per cent over the two-year period. In 2000, half of the districts(in all 32) in Rajasthan recorded a mean number of 8.5 vultures whereas in 2002 the median value was 2.8, three times lower.

"The censuses were carried out with the support of the local Hindi daily, Rajasthan Patrika, through reader responses with the help of experts like Robert R.Riseborough, Harkirat Singh Sangha and Anil K.Chhangani. The Rajasthan Forest Department, the State's Animal Husbandry Department, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and Bodega Bay Institute also pitched in.

"From a decade ago, when vultures were among the most common birds in Rajasthan, the numbers reported in 2000 indicate that a major decline in population had taken place; the 2002 data indicate that this pattern of decline has continued," the census report points out.

"The birds, especially, the White-backed vultures, have become rare to sight. During my tours with Mr.Sangha in Kota in Rajasthan and in the adjoining areas of Madhya Pradesh we sighted only a dozen White-backed vultures after traveling thousands of kms. They used to be found in hundreds in the past," Mr.Vardhan observes.

"How did the situation reach such a sorry pass even when the Bombay Natural History Society(BNHS) had issued a "Vulture Alert" back in 1998 after learning about the crash in their population ? As a follow-up, the BNHS director, Azad Rehmani, had also convened a "Vulture conservation strategy planning" meeting in Mumbai in August 1999.

However, the first riddle the experts had to solve was the reason for the deaths of these birds.

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Gyps vultures on the verge of extinction