National 2 (Spotlight Weekly)

Disappearing Bird

Due to the indiscriminate use of Diclofenac, the population of vulture has drastically reduced triggering fear of its extinction from the South Asian region

By KESHAB POUDEL

Sanu Khadgi, a traditional butcher who sells the buffalo meat, has not seen vultures along the riverbanks of Bishnumati for the last one year. “There used to be dozens of vultures in and around the river sides till a few years back but I have not seen them feeding on carcasses of cattle and dogs these days,” he said.

Bishnumati riverside is not the only place that has witnessed the slide in the vulture number resulting in growing heaps of animal carcasses. Many other riverbanks have similar problems. “We used to see vultures swooping down on our dead cattle whenever we threw them at the riverside,” said Bal Krishna Pudashaini of Kandaghari.

From dumping sites to riverbanks, the population of vultures in Kathmandu valley has drastically declined but only a few people have noticed what has gone wrong with the vulture population.

Few years ago, the headlines of local newspapers were full of vulture heating aircrafts at the Kathmandu’s International Airport. But now, along with other South Asian countries, vultures are now under a threat of extinction in Nepal as well.

Experts have warned that vulture in Asia will be extinct if concerned countries do not take necessary decision to immediately ban the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug called diclofenac in animals. Experts predict that vultures could get extinct from the region within short period of two years if no corrective steps are taken.

Surveys of veterinarians in Pakistan show that diclofenac is used for therapy in a wide range of livestock ailments and injuries in which an effective painkiller and anti-inflammatory drug can assist recovery, much as humans might use paracetamol, ibuprofin, or Aspirin. A veterinary course of diclofenac is very cheap in Pakistan and India; at less than about 50 cents (US Dollars) per course. .

“No amount of conservation effort will succeed as long as the cause of the decline is left intact. Diclofenac is clearly the cause of the catastrophic decline in vultures on the sub-continent and the most probable route of contamination is through recently treated livestock that become food for vultures,” said Dr. G. Rao from Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI)

Diclofenac was introduced into the veterinary market just a decade ago. It is popular because it has therapeutic value in the treatment of symptoms in a broad range of ailments and injuries, causing immediate but short-term relief. Veterinarians say the drug has no specific curative value and it has many potential substitutes. .

Following wide discussions at Kathmandu summit, senior government officials and experts from South Asian region and other parts of the world passed a resolution recommending ban on the veterinary use of diclofenac.

A research conducted by the Peregrine Fund, a U.S.-based conservation organization, has revealed that the use of the drug diclofenac in veterinary is the primary cause of rapid vulture die-off in South Asia.
With the support of the U.S. Department of State and in partnership with Bird Conservation Nepal, Peregrine Fund, this first international summit (February 5-6) was able to draw the attention of government officials from Pakistan, India and Nepal including the experts from the IUCN and WWF about the alarming situation.

“The summit was successful to convince the policy makers that there is a need to take an immediate action to prevent the vulture from extinction. I am happy that the officials from Nepal, India and Pakistan have shown sincere commitment,” said Dr. William (Bill) Burnham, president of The Peregrine Fund. “An immediate and outright ban on the production, sale, and use of veterinary diclofenac products would be the most effective way to reduce the unsustainably high rates of vulture mortality.”

Government officials and environmentalists agreed that extinction of vultures might have far-reaching economic, ecological, and public health implications. Vultures play a role in the control of important human and veterinary diseases such as anthrax, tuberculosis and brucellosis by rapid disposal of infected animals and inactivation of pathogens. They also contribute to controlling veterinary diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease, rinderpest and contagious pleuro-pneumonia.

Realizing the alarming situation, the Indian officials agree to organize seminar that will inform the relevant government departments of environmental consequences of veterinary diclofenac use and devise a suitable strategy by which deregistration can be reached.

Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences Lahore Pakistan will undertake basic research on safe, effective and affordable alternative to diclofenac.

“We will support the awareness campaign in Nepal by providing necessary fund,” said Dr. Chandra Gurung, country representative of World Wildlife Fund.

“Nepalese government will take immediate action. The government will provide all kinds of necessary support to rescue the vulture,” said Sarbendra Nath Shukla, Minister for Forest and Soil Conservation.
Experts argue that the long term survival of vultures in the Indian subcontinent is dependent on removal of diclofenac from the food chain. Most of the vultures died recently after consuming the carcass of animals who had been administered the common vet medicine as it seemed to damage the birds' kidneys.

Till a few years ago vultures of South Asia were considered among the most abundant large raptors on Earth. By the late 1990s scientists realized that three species of Gyps vultures were in a perilous state of decline with populations across the subcontinent reduced by 95-100%.

These species have now been classed as critically endangered by the IUCN, and the studies have already shown that unless remedial action is taken quickly remaining populations of Oriental White-backed Vulture (Gyps bengalensis), Long-billed Vulture (Gyps indicus), and Slender-billed Vulture (Gyps tenuirostris) will become extinct in the very near future.

“Our research have revealed that veterinary use of a pharmaceutical called diclofenac is responsible for the catastrophic declines that have devastated the subcontinent,” said Dr. J. Lindsay Oaks, assistant professor at Washington State University who did the study on extinction of vulture population. “This major breakthrough provides the opportunity to develop strategies to combat this new environmental threat and begin the effort to restore it.”

Cattles grazing : Have they consumed Diclofenac

Vulture populations have declined entirely through much of Indochina and the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Small breeding populations of Oriental White-backed and Slender-billed Vultures remain in northern Cambodia, with other fragmented reports in the region restricted to small groups or individual birds.

The situation on the Indian subcontinent has evolved far more rapidly. Concerns for India’s vultures were first raised by Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) biologist Dr Vibhu Prakash in the late 1990s. Nesting pairs at Keoladeo National Park near Bharatpur, India decreased from 353 in 1987/88 to 20 in 1998-99.

No active nests were recorded at the park in either the 1999/2000 or the 2000/01 season. Numbers of Long-billed Vultures also declined from a count of 816 birds in 1985-86 to 25 in 1998-99, with only one bird seen in the 1999-2000 season. Dr Prakash’s studies reported large numbers of dead adult vultures (73 recorded in 1997/98), suggesting that the decline was related to an increase in mortality rate.

Research by the Peregrine Fund and regional partners in Pakistan and Nepal also confirmed that vulture populations in these countries were also in decline.

“We have recorded drastic decline in the number of vultures in some of the national park areas,” said Hem Sagar Baral, president of Bird Conservation Nepal. “ In year 2000, we had seen 67 nest of vultures in Kosi Tappu, a wildlife resort 500 miles east of capital but we have just three nest now.”

Pakistani officials have recorded the drastic loss in the number of vulture. “During the last three years, vulture populations at colonies in Punjab province have declined by 92%. With the rate of decline increasing at all sites annually time is rapidly running out,” said professor Dr. Muhammad Naeem Khan, dean faculty of Fisheries and Wildlife, University of Veterinary and Animal Science, Lahore.

Diclofenac was found in all birds tested that had died with visceral gout, while vultures dying of other causes (including trauma, intestinal foreign bodies, lead poisoning, organophosphate poisoning, and gunshot) were all negative for the drug.

Between the 2000/01 and 2003/04 breeding seasons populations at three study colonies in Pakistan declined at an accelerating annual rate by 100%, 100%, and 67%, respectively. Over 1,600 dead vultures have been recovered from field sites in Pakistan, of which 259 were recovered in a state good enough for gross post-mortem inspection in 2002.

Vultures are efficient scavengers, able to dispose of carcasses rapidly (in minutes), before diseases such as anthrax have a chance to spread. Vultures have been widely used in south Asia as a natural carcass disposal method and must now be replaced with more costly and labor intensive disposal methods. Vultures have also been an integral part of the Parsi (Zoroastrian) “sky burial” that has been devastated by the loss of vultures, especially in Mumbai, and vultures have an important part in Hindu mythology.

Diclofenac was originally manufactured under patent for use in human therapy, especially arthritis and other inflammatory conditions. It continues to be among several of the commonest non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs used in human medicine.

Though it could be too little too late, the officials and scientists have shown interest to protect vultures from extinction.