Diclofenac drug behind declining vulture population

BAHRAICH: Declining population of vultures is a cause of worry for the administration.

Recently the population of vultures has been found decreasing due the use of Diclofenac medicine which is also affecting adversely the environment.

Taking the matter seriously, Katarniaghat foundation has sent a letter to the state government and demanded complete ban on the sale of this medicine.

They said that the government of India has banned the use of diclofenac in the animals across the country but the medicine is being sold freely at the medical stores.

The existence of vultures is in danger with the use of this medicine in animals. The district magistrate (DM) Bahraich Kinjal Singh has sent a letter to the chief medical officer (CMO) and chief veterinary officer (CVO) for the conservation of the vultures and ordered them to ensure that diclofenac should not be sold in the market without the doctor's prescription.

According to a study, population of several species of vultures and other large scavenging birds worldwide have declined due to less availability of food, collisions with man-made structures, contamination, and poisoning.

Indian vultures have vanished because they fed on dead livestock, which were administered anti-inflammatory drugs like diclofenac, that increases the working life of cattle.

Secretary of society for conservation of nature, R Chauhan, who was able to photograph the huge flock of vultures, said, "there is a large presence of long-billed vultures and their count stood at 140 while 32 cinereous vultures and 44 white-backed vultures were spotted in Purwa Majra village which comes under Suhelwa Wildlife sanctuary."

"Such a huge count of vultures only indicates that people here do not give drugs to their cattle," he said further. Suhelwa Wildlife sanctuary DFO, Manish Mittal said the sighting of vultures is very encouraging.

"We would soon conduct a survey to make plans for their breeding and conservation," he said.

He added, as per the locals of Paschimi Purwa Hatwa, they have been witnessing vultures since the past couple of months. "While there was thin presence of nearly threatened cinereous vulture and white backed vulture, which is a cause of concern, the presence of long-billed vulture, which is critically endangered, only gives us a ray of hope," he said.