This pdf is about the Vulture Conservation. For more details visit on YouTube; @SELF-EXPLANATORY; https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAiarMZDNhe1A3Rnpr_WkzA/videos Thanks...!

1. Saba Parvin Haque
M.Sc. Life Sciences
(Specialization in Neurobiology)
from “Sophia College
(Autonomous)”, Mumbai.
selfexplanatory.2022

2. Vulture Conservation

3. Introduction
➢ India has Nine species of Vultures in the
Wild.
➢ Vultures are large, short-tailed, solitary
birds and are part of the group of “birds
of prey”, specialized in eating the bodies
of the dead animals therefore have
adaptations or skills suited to the
scavenger way of life.
➢ Vultures migrate over large geographical
ranges, and therefore their conservation
and protection in their habitats through
which they travel, feed and nest is
essential.
➢ Vultures in wild can live up to 38 years
and in captivity they can live up to 42
years.

4. ➢ When an animal dies, it becomes a breeding ground for all
sorts of pathogens.
➢ The Vultures used to feed off the dead animals before
bacterial and fungus could develop, preventing the spread
of rabies anthrax and many other diseases.
➢ Feral dog population is multiplying because they have so
much more food and that is a major problem for India,
which has the highest rate of human rabies in the world.
➢ Life is much harder for local hide and bone collectors who
rely on cleaned carcasses in order to earn a living. And
many cattle owners now have to pay to have livestock
carcasses buried or burnt.
➢ Vultures provide critically important ecosystem services by
cleaning up carcasses and other organic waste in the
environment, thus reducing the spread of dangerous
diseases such as anthrax and rabies –resulting in highly
significant economic and human health benefits.
Why vultures?

5. Asia's first vulture reintroduction
programme launched in Haryana

6. ➢ The Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre (VCBC)/ Jatayu Conservation
Breeding Centre (JCBC) is a joint project of the Haryana Forest
Department and the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS).
➢ The VCBC, earlier known as Vulture Care Centre (VCC), was established
in September 2001 with the UK Government's 'Darwin Initiative for the
Survival of Species' fund, to investigate the dramatic declines in India's
Gyps species of vultures.
➢ It was established in Pinjore at Haryana.
➢ Covers 5 acres (2.0 ha), and its focus is the conservation, study, and
breeding of critically endangered and threatened species of vultures on
the IUCN Red List.
➢ It is a collaborative initiative to save the three species of vultures, the
White-backed, Long-billed and Slender-billed, from looming extinction.

7. Gyps bengalensis
Gyps tenuirostris
Gyps indicus

8. ➢ 40 million vultures population of India in 1993, 99.9% of Slender–billed vultures and 97%
White-backed vulture have disappeared from their primary habitat by 2007 due to
Diclofenac.
➢ Diclofenac, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, given to cattle to treat pain and
inflammation, was the main cause of vulture mortality and population crash in vultures.
➢ At least 75% of the vulture population had died of diclofenac poisoning and this was
the major cause of decline.
➢ Vultures are exposed to diclofenac when they feed from carcasses of livestock that
have died within a few days of treatment and contain residues of the drug.
➢ The concentration of diclofenac, as low as 0.22 mg/gm of body weight, was found to
be lethal to vultures.
➢ Vultures died within a few days from kidney failure and were found to have extensive
visceral gout (deposits of uric acid in the tissues) at necroscopic examination.
Diclofenac implicated as the main cause
of vulture decline

9. ➢ This became possible because of the
efforts taken by the then Hon'ble Forest
Minister, Ms. Kiran Choudhry.
➢ The manufacturing and use of
veterinary Diclofenac has been
banned in India, Pakistan, Nepal and
Bangladesh.
➢ Alternative veterinary drug ‘Meloxicam’
was registered.
➢ It is not harmful for animals specially for
Vultures.
Ban on the veterinary use of
Diclofenac in India

10. ➢Habitat loss
➢Infectious diseases
➢Low Food Availability
➢Environmental
Contaminants
➢Interference due to
traffic and other animals
Other Causes

11.  It can be regarded as a natural resource,
like air and water, which provide society
with no of services and there impact on
Human heath, Economic activity,
environmental quality.
 Primary Carcass disposers.
 In rituals for dead of parsi community
“The Tower of Silence”.
 According to Parsi beliefs, Earth, fire and
water are sacred elements and both
cremation and burial and sacrilegious.
 For the deceased Parsi to reach heaven ,
vultures serve as intermediates between
earth and sky by consuming the body ,
liberate the soul.

12.  IUCN is working with the
governments of South Asia and
a consortium of organizations
known as ‘SAVE’ (SAVING ASIA’S
VULTURES FROM EXTINCTION)
which is also supported by SOS-
SAVE OUR SPECIES to establish
100 kilometer radius ‘Vulture Safe
Zones’ clear of diclofenac and
other potentially dangerous
veterinary painkillers.
Role Of IUCN

13.  Hameem, Wani & Bhat, Bilal & Fazili, Mustahson & Shansaz, Umer & Haq, Iqram &
Bhat, Rouf. (2019). Status of vultures in India: A review. 03. 181-187.
(https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330038396_Status_of_vultures_in_India_A
_review)
 https://www.gktoday.in/gk/protection-of-vulture-in-india/
 https://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/new-study-india-may-have-even-fewer-
vultures-we-thought
 Prakash, V., Bishwakarma, M. C., Chaudhary, A., Cuthbert, R., Dave, R., Kulkarni, M.,
Kumar, S., Paudel, K., Ranade, S., Shringarpure, R., & Green, R. E. (2012). The
population decline of Gyps vultures in India and Nepal has slowed since veterinary
use of diclofenac was banned. PloS one, 7(11), e49118.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0049118
References

14. Thank you