Indian Vultures: A Species on the verge of extinction

While growing up in India, i used to see hundreds of vultures flying in the sky and circling a dead animal. But today it's a rare site. I am sure those of you born before or in the early 90s must have seen a lot of vultures but unfortunately most of the children born in the last decade have never seen this majestic bird flying in the sky. It's because vultures are on the verge of extinction. The situation is that today there are only a few thousand vultures left in India. The problem has been officially recognized by the government and is popularly known as "The Indian Vulture Crisis".

• According to the official figures, there were more than 80 million vultures in India before 1980. 
• India had the largest population of white-rumped vultures.
• The decline in the population of vultures was first noted by Mr. Vibhu Prakash of the Bombay Natural History Society. 

The cause of rapid decline in the vulture population:

In 2003, it was discovered that a veterinary drug known as Diclofenac was the cause for the rapid decline of the vulture population. Diclofenac is drug that is widely used all over India to treat animals (mainly buffaloes and cows) suffering from inflammatory disorders.

Diclofenac is not harmful to the animal that is treated with it but if a vulture eats the carcass of that animal then it proves to be highly toxic for the vulture.

Since Diclofenac was widely used all over the country, it had devastating effects on the vulture population.

The Solution to the problem: 

• In 2006 the sale and use of Diclofenac was banned all over the country.
• An alternative drug known as Meloxicam has been developed and made available in the market.
• Neighboring countries like Pakistan and Nepal have also banned the sale of Diclofenac.

The situation in 2015:

Even though Diclofenac has been banned for use in veterinary medicine but the same drug is also used for the treatment of human beings and there is no restriction on its sale and purchase. Sometimes farmers buy the drug meant for human consumption and inject their cattle with it. Hence, now the problem can only be solved by educating the people about the deadly effects of Diclofenac.