Centre draws up five years plan to save vultures

The Union Government has released a five-year action plan for the conservation of vultures. They are nature’s scavengers which feed on the animal carcasses keeping the surrounding clean. The step has been taken in light of a substantial decline in the population of vultures in India.

The plan released by the government includes instituting a system that will automatically remove a drug from veterinary use, such as Diclofenac which is found to be toxic for the vultures. The system implemented with the help of the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) will ensure preventing the poisoning of principal food of vultures.

The Union Environment Minister, Prakash Javadekar while referring to the ministry’s five-year plan (2020-2025) for the conservation of vultures informed that just 0.4-0.7% of animal carcasses which are contaminated with Diclofenac are enough to decimate the population of vultures.

Just 0.4-0.7% of animal caracasses contaminated with Diclofenac was sufficient to decimate 99% of vulture populations. Due to dedicated conservation efforts, vulture population is stabilizing. Happy to note that @moefcc has launched a holistic Action plan for Vulture conservation pic.twitter.com/O4IBUMVNwU

— Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) November 16, 2020

Significance of vultures for the environment:

As the vultures are specialized scavengers, they lay a significant role in quickly disposing of the animal carcasses that can harbour millions of fungus and pathogenic bacteria causing serious implications for animal and human health. In their own way, vultures play an essential role in keeping the countryside of India clean.

Objectives for Action Plan for Vulture Conservation 2020-2025 (APVC):

• To prevent the poisoning of the principal food of the vultures which are cattle carcasses. It will be ensured that veterinary NSAIDs have been regulated and distributed only on the prescription. It will also be ensured that the treatment of livestock is done only by qualified veterinarians.

• To carry out safety testing of molecules of veterinary NSAIDs available on vultures. The new molecules will be allowed in the market only after they have proved to be safe following the safety testing on the vultures.

• DCGI must institute a system that will automatically remove a drug from veterinary use if in any case it is found to be toxic to vultures.

• There will also be a need to establish additional breeding centres for vultures in the country. Presently there are 8 breeding centres in different parts of the country. Even though the primary focus of these centres is breeding of the vultures, they also serve as the Vulture Conservation Centres.

Vulture Conservation Action Plan: Highlights

• The plan will deal with the dead animals in a scientific manner for disposal so that vultures will not get exposed to the animal carcasses that died during the treatment.

• The Action plan (2020-2025) with an estimated budget of Rs. 207 crores will also include setting up of five additional conservation breeding centres of vultures- in Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu.

• The plan also includes the proposal to establish 4 rescue centres in different areas such as Bhopal in Central India, Haryana in North India, Hyderabad in South India, and Guwahati in North-East India.

• The government will also be working on the conservation breeding programme of Egyptian Vultures and Red-Headed Vulture.

• The plan will help states in establishing at least one ‘Vulture safe zone’ for the conservation of the population.

• The five-year plan will also carry out coordinated nation-wide vulture count for getting a more exact estimate of the vulture population.

• A database will also be created on emerging threats to vulture conservation including electrocution and collision.

Vultures in India:

Till the 1980s, Vultures were very common in India and their population was estimated to be 40 million. However, during the mid-90s, their population crashed over 90% and by 2007, 99% of the three Gyps species were wiped out.

The sudden decline in the population of vultures prompted the government to come out with a dedicated plan for the conservation of vultures as the three-year plan of 2006 did not get the desired results.