Poets and writers have written eloquently on parrots, pigeon, doves, cuckoos and bulbuls but in terms of vulture they have spared their thoughts.
Poets and writers have written eloquently on parrots, pigeon, doves, cuckoos and bulbuls but in terms of vulture they have spared their thoughts.
Vultures are God’s own incinerators, which cannot be replaced by even the most sophisticated ones which man may invent. They are the hardiest God’s creation and have been called nature’s own disposal squads. There is no blinking the fact that they play a vital role in maintaining the ecosystem, cleansing the environment and decreasing the spread of infectious diseases.
Carcass…..rotting ones that……are vulture’s typical diet and its scavenging habit have an important link in checking the spread of infectious diseases. They prefer the meat of mammals but not the meat of birds, amphibian, reptiles and invertebrates. Whenever there is occurrence of cattle epidemics or natural calamities like floods and drought, nature assign the vultures with the job of cleansing the earth of putrid carcasses thus speedily preventing deadly germs from spreading.
But over the past few years gypsophils are crying themselves hoarse that stately bird is vanishing from Pakistani skies and flying towards extinction. Wildlife experts fear that if urgent steps are not taken then vulture become extinct in Pakistan.
The importance of vultures cannot be neglected.
a) They eat the dead things that could cause diseases to humans and animals if left to rot
b) They clean up the landscape and remove offensive odors.
c) They prepare the way for new life.
d) They keep our roadways clean so they are called Roadkill Warriors.
e) Vultures clean up the environment making way for healthy life and society to progress.
Factors Affecting the Vulture’s Population:
There are multiple explanations for decreasing of vulture population but deforestation is major one. As vulture makes nests on old trees of Sheesham and this tree is decreasing due to Sheesham diaback. So destruction of habitat has adverse effect on vulture’s population.
The other risk factor in their population to which these birds are exposed is the use of veterinary analgesic drug, Diclofenic, which was introduced for veterinary use in the late 1980 in Pakistan, India and Nepal. Vultures are highly susceptible to Diclofenic and are killed by kidney failure within short period of time due to feeding on the carcasses of those animals which were treated with this medicine in life. Experimental studies show that there is 100% correlation between visceral gout and Diclofenic residues, vulture fed on buffalo carcass or treated with Diclofenic died of visceral gout. In Pakistan 85% decrease in vulture population is due to visceral gout, a disease in which there is accumulation of uric acid within tissues or on the surfaces of internal organs causes kidney failure and finally death.
The other risk factor in decreasing the vulture population shortage of adequate food as the people have started burying their animals or they have sent their older animals to slaughter houses
The other reason for dwindling of the vulture population is the rampant use of pesticides in farming. The theory is that the cattle imbibe these pesticides from the grass and other green vegetables, when the cattle dies vulture swoop on carcasses and imbibe these chemicals (DDT, Aldrin and Dieldrin) along with the flesh of cattle . So, these pesticide residues cause disorder in their reproductive system, digestive system and even causing thinning of their egg shells which further result in high mortality rate.
Rapid habitation has also decreased the vulture population. They don’t belong in cities. Vultures are forced to come in cities due to faulty waste disposal practices adopted by municipalities so waste should be disposed out of the countryside.
Suggestions:
Pakistan government has to take following measures otherwise this specie will extinct in Pakistan like leopards.
1. Build vulture restaurants in some nesting areas to feed the vulture safe food which has become scarce in recent years.
2. Protect the forests where the vultures nests by the coordination with the community of forest user groups.
3. Monitor the vultures at their specific breeding site and conserve their breeding habitat.
4. Conservation of vultures at their habitat.
5. As diclofenic is already banned but still prescribed in remote areas where the regulatory enforcement is low so it should be totally removed.
6. Increasing awareness among people and emphasis on its importance through workshops.
WRITTEN BY: ZAFARULLAH BHATTI (PLANT BREEDING AND GENETICS DEPARTMENT)
UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FAISALABAD
CO-OPERATE BY: PROFESSOR Dr. RASHEED AHMED(FORESTRY RANGE AND WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT)
