Reviving vultures

Not everything in Nepal is in decline. The country has made dramatic strides in public health, forestry and conservation.

Starting in late 1990s, Nepal and other South Asian countries were losing over 95% of their vulture populations. A 2004 study placed the blame firmly on diclofenac, vultures were feeding on livestock carcasses that had residues of the vet steroid.

Nepal banned the drug in 2006, and with some strategic conservation measures including establishing vulture restaurants, the country has since revived the raptor population from the brink of extinction. Excerpt of the report published 20 years ago this week on issue #185 27 February – 6 March 2004:

Four years ago, vultures suddenly started disappearing over the subcontinent. No one knew why: some suspected pesticides, others thought the birds were running out of food. Other kinds of vultures and secondary scavengers did not seem to be affected.

Populations of the Oriental White-backed Vulture, Slender-billed Vulture and Long-billed Vulture in the three countries dropped by between 95-97 percent. The Oriental White-backed Vulture is one of the most abundant large raptors in the world, such population declines had never been seen since the extinction of the Great Auk or the Passenger Pigeon in the 19th century.

Soon, researchers zeroed in on the cause. Analysing the remains of dead vultures in Punjab and Nepal, scientists from the US-based Peregrine Fund found that the vultures were dying because of the presence of diclofenac in livestock carcasses, an anti-inflammatory drug used widely in human and veterinary medicine in South Asia. Lindsay Oaks of Washington State University said he and other researchers were puzzled by the fact that the vultures were dying of kidney failure, and soon they narrowed it to residual diclofenac.

For archived material of Nepali Times of the past 20 years, site search: nepalitimes.com