Scavengers may face extinction

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Ludhiana, Mar 15 (UNI) Given the current decline in vulture population, environmentalists in Punjab fear that the other bird fauna which feed on animal carcasses at the Animal Flaying and Disposal (AFD) Centres were equally exposed to the same risks.

Since the AFD Centres in Punjab were among the potential feeding sites for scavenging birds, there prevails a constant fear of secondary poisoning among existing fauna in the event of an animal death due to accidental poisoning, Dr C S Malhi, an ornithologist at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has revealed in his studies.

With the flesh of the dead animals at the disposal of vultures at AFD Centres becoming a rare phenomenon, Dr Malhi voiced his apprehension of an eventuality if some chemicals were being used for expediting removal of flesh from carcasses. He also revealed that AFD Centre owners too were becoming averse to the occurrence of avifauna at these Centres because of public annoyance.

Explaining the ill-effects of an exponential diminution of the vultures in Punjab, Dr Malhi pointed out that the scavenging potential of the existing bird fauna was just a decimal compared to that of vultures. Several reasons could be assigned for their disappearance, he added while naming a few as loss of habitat, viral disease, livestock management practices and use of pesticides.

However the major reason, was a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug called Dichofenanc administered to the livestock to which the vultures got exposed through feeding on carcasses of such animals, he disclosed.

In his studies, Dr Malhi pointed out that Himachal Pradesh was viewed as the most suitable breeding ground for vultures, while the adjacent Punjab territory was considered the most suitable feeding ground. Captive breeding of vultures appeared to be an immediate solution, he opined.

Besides captive breeding, a thought should also be given to the interests of AFD Centre owners to help reinstate a suitable environment for vultures, he said. Dr Malhi suggested that a regular monitoring of avifauna be conducted at AFD Centres and more carcass utilization centres be created in Punjab.

There was a need to set up procedures by which poison or pesticides residue analysis of tissue of dead arrivals at AFD Centres could be carried out before subjecting them to flaying and disposal operations, he concluded.

Dr Malhi pointed out that vultures, which were once the most common and widely distributed scavengers in south-Asian countries including India, are now almost on the verge of extinction.

Vultures possess efficient digestive system capable of breaking bones in the stomach and have excellent feeding potential as well as feeding rate.

In Punjab, four resident species of vultures--- Black or King Vulture (Sarcogyps Calvus), Indian Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus), Indian White backed Vulture (Gyps bengalensis) and Egyptian or White Scavenger Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) have almost disappeared from the agro-eco system, he said. Vultures were listed as critically endangered in 2000 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.