Saving the plague buster – an Indian conservation story

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Which Indian bird faces the greatest threat of extinction? What steps are being taken to protect it?

India is blessed with amazing diversity of birds, insects, mammals and aquatic animals. This diversity is our collective heritage and it is the duty of every Indian citizen to help protect this heritage. Unfortunately, in spite of best efforts there are many species that are on the verge of extinction.

Did you know…
Protecting and improving natural environment such as forest, rivers and wildlife is one of the fundamental duties mentioned in Article 51-A of the constitution. The ‘Ministry of Environment and Forest Affairs’ is responsible for protecting our forests and its flora and fauna.

IUCN and threat classification

Before we see which Indian bird is on the verge of extinction, let us first understand how different species are categorized on their existential threat. IUCN, or International Union for Conservation of Nature, is a global body that issues a red list of threatened species. The IUCN red list category includes:

• VU – vulnerable species. Possibility of unnatural extinction. E.g. Wild Yak, Black Necked Crane
• EN – endangered species. Very high risk of extinction. E.g. Tiger, Great Indian Bustard
• CR – critically endangered. Imminent extinction in the wild. E.g. Lion, White Rumped Vulture
• EW – extinct in the wild. Surviving only in captivity. E.g. Guam Kingfisher.
• EX – extinct species. E.g. Dodo

The Vulture’s Story

Possibly the most endangered species in India is the vulture. Some vulture sub-species, such as the White Rumped Vulture, are on the verge of complete extinction. And there’s a heart-breaking story behind it.

Vultures at one point in time were a very common sight in India. They had made their home all along the Gangetic plains, the Deccan and the coastal plains. During the 1980’s they were even considered a nuisance to aircrafts due to the possibility of bird strikes.

Somewhere in 1990’s their population started to drastically fall. How drastic? In a 12 year period, their population fell by a jaw-dropping 97%. By early 2000, some sub-species such as the White Rumped (also called the White Backed) vulture fell by a whopping 99%.

Percentages don’t do justice in representing this alarming fall. In the late 1980’s India had about 80 million White Rumped vulture. Other sub-species were equally thriving. By mid-2000’s, this came down to – hold your breath – just a few thousand. These 1000 odd vultures were spread all over the country.

We have all heard stories about the Dodo getting extinct. Here now was a bird species getting extinct, in the 21st century, in front of our eyes. Something had to be done, and done very quickly, about this.

Importance of Vultures

So why all this hue and cry about protecting vultures? As it turns out vultures, especially in an Indian context, are super critical to keeping mankind safe. Vultures, as you would all be aware, are scavengers. They feed on dead animals and rotting meat. When vultures disappear, dead animals are left to rot in the open and start polluting water bodies. Humans using the contaminated water fall prey to illness from the pathogens in the body of the dead animal.

A secondary problem also arises – something that is not immediately obvious. Population of stray dogs and rats increase because they have more meat to consume, courtesy dead animals left out to rot. With more stray dogs in villages, towns and cities the cases of dog bites increase. Rats feed on grain and destroy crops.

Vultures do not host any disease causing pathogens in their body. Even if a vulture was to come into contact with a human, it would not transmit any life threatening disease to us. On the other hand, rats and dogs harbor pathogens in their body. When the rats and dogs come into contact with humans (through bites or faeces), these pathogens enter our body. Extremely dangerous diseases like plague, rabies and anthrax are spread this way.

All of this has a financial impact on the country. Treatment costs for diseases caused by dog bites have gone up. Sick people cannot go to work, so there is an immediate economic impact. Poor people cannot afford medication, so the death of those in the prime of their productivity is devastating to their families. Between the mid-1990’s and mid-2000’s, vulture decline has cost India about $34 billion. During this time period, the stray dog population increased by around 5 million or attributed directly to the collapse in vulture population.

The Villain killing the Vultures

It was initially thought that vultures were dying in large numbers because of the non-availability of food. Vultures feed on dead animals, and was better waste management systems in towns and cities resulting in the vulture going hungry?

Detailed studies showed a different picture altogether. The vultures were all dying due to kidney failure. They were finding food, but somehow some toxic chemical was entering their body and destroying their kidneys. This was not a slow process, it was sudden and fatal.

Researchers scrambled to find an answer to this riddle. It turns out a veterinary drug, Diclofenac, which was in use since 1980’s in India was the culprit. Cattle and domestic animals were being injected with Diclofenac as a pain killer. When these animals died and their dead body was discarded, the vultures fed on them. The Diclofenac entered the vulture’s body and the unfortunate bird would die in less than 4 days. One veterinary medicine introduced in 1980’s literally wiped out the entire vulture population in the country in 20 years.

Saving the vultures

Countries in the Indian subcontinent sprung into action once the cause was identified. One option was to ban Diclofenac. But there was a catch. Diclofenac is a medicine consumed by humans too. Surprised? Look at any of the pain relieving balms and sprays you have at home, there are high chances that they contain Diclofenac.

If Diclofenac was to be banned in the country, then these medicines have to be banned too. These medicines are cheap and was widely used, so banning them was not feasible. How about banning the veterinary use of the medicine? The government felt that people may simply buy Diclofenac for human consumption and then use it on animals. The only way out was to find an alternative for veterinary use.

Study was conducted and an alternative to Diclofenac for veterinary use was identified. This drug, Meloxicam, was tested on vultures in South Africa. The tests were successful and in 2006, the government rolled out a new policy:

• Diclofenac was banned for veterinary use and replaced by Meloxicam
• Diclofenac continued for human use. To prevent its misuse in animals, the production of Diclofenac was controlled and its price increased. This way no one would go back to using Diclofenac in animals.

To help stabilize the population, new vulture breeding centers were started in different cities. The results of this program has been encouraging, but there is still a long way to go. We can only keep our fingers crossed that the mistakes of humankind do not wipe out this wonderful bird.

Conclusion

Human beings have had far reaching impact on all forms of life on planet Earth. Many a times the impact has been due to direct intervention in the ways of nature. Destruction of forests, willful killing of animals and birds fall in this category. In the case of the vulture, it was an unexpected use of a medication that caused the problem. It took a decade for the linkage to be established between the decline in vulture population and Diclofenac. But once the problem was identified, human ingenuity came to the fore and a solution was found. Let us hope that the vulture conservation efforts succeed and we are able to help mother nature heal the wounds.

Further Reading

As always, we end our blog with a further reading section. I would encourage all our readers to take the time to see the wonderful videos and insightful articles linked here.

The original Vulture conservation plan of the Government of India is here. This is a very insightful document and shows the effort that the government is putting in to protect this species. Highly recommended read.

The latest release of Vulture conservation plan can be found here, it gives you an idea of the progress made so far.

And if animal and insect species and their threat levels interest you, read the classification of all species found in India here. Don’t forget to compare against the IUCN categorization levels we read earlier to see where your favorite animal/insect stands in threat level.

Interested in IUCN and what they do? The IUCN red list has all the details on all endangered species around the world.

Do you like maps and are you interested in seeing the forest and ecological wealth of India through maps? Head to ISRO’s Bhuvan mapping platform. Select the information you are looking for in the left pane and see them marked-up in the map.

A scholarly article that estimates the cost of vulture extinction can be read here. Very insightful.

Lot many times, people don’t treat animals with the respect and care they deserve. A shocking news had come in newspapers in early 2000 about people taking selfies with an injured vulture. All’s not lost though, see how youngsters are helping revive vultures in this video.

Did you know…
The first Saturday of September is celebrated as the International Vulture Awareness Day.

Food for thought

Why do you think ‘Meloxicam’, the substitute for ‘Diclofenac’, was tested on vultures in South Africa when the real problem was in India? Did the researchers make a mistake? I would be interested in hearing your reasoning behind it via the ‘Comments’ section below.

How optimistic are you about the success of vulture conservation program? Does nature conservation and wildlife protection interest you? Let me know your views about it.