How cattle owners can help revive the near extinct Indian Vultures
What happened to Vultures in the Indian Subcontinent?
“There were so many, it was impossible to count...”
Between 80 and 160 million vultures of various species used to thrive in the Indian subcontinent till the 1990s. Cattle was abundant, and since Indic religions forbade the consumption of their meat, natural cattle death would generate astronomical quantities of carrion. Vultures, being obligate scavengers, came to fulfill the important ecological role of quickly and efficiently disposing of such carrion.
A frenzy of vultures could eat a carcass clean in 20 minutes. Their long necks enabled them to crane in and reach every last bit of flesh. Cattle carcasses would just be left outside the village and all that would be left were bones, which were often collected by the village poor and sold to fertiliser mills. The vultures were disposing of an estimated 20 million tons of carrion annually. Their scavenger digestive system had evolved to eat rotting meat and safely kill any pathogens lurking in it — eliminating the possibility of disease outbreak and epidemics, and making them an important pillar of public sanitation.
Image: Vultures feeding on dead cow: Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The vultures’ ecological services could not be appreciated till they got wiped off the landscape and the food chain in a very short span of time, all over India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh.
Starting in the 1990s, vultures in the Indian subcontinent started dying en masse. Deaths were so widespread that some populations started halving every year.
The cause of the die off was a mystery and attempts to pinpoint it grew frantic as even captive and disease free vultures — being fed pesticide free meat and water in the care of expert teams — started dropping dead. Such a tragic rate of decline continued for over a decade, before Diclofenac - a painkiller Non Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drug (NSAID) being given to cattle, was identified as the culprit.
Feeding on Diclofenac laced flesh causes kidney failure in Indian Gyps vultures. Within 3 and 10 days of feeding on such carrion, the vulture dies. The Indian vulture die off is the “fastest decline of any bird species ever reported anywhere in the world”.
Diclofenac, administered to animals and people for pain and inflammation management, was banned for veterinary use in 2006. Despite this, illegal imports of the veterinary grade drug continued from China. Many Veterinarians and farmers also started using multiple doses of small human formulations of Diclofenac for cattle.
The Gyps species, comprising the majority of the vultures in the Indian subcontinent, proved to be the most sensitive to Diclofenac and were the worst affected.
White Rumped Vulture, 99.9 Percent wiped out
Image: Davidvraju, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Slender Billed Vulture, 97.4% wiped out
Image: Mike Prince from Bangalore, India, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Red Headed Vulture, Near Threatened
Image: Jan Reurink from Netherlands, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Long Billed Vulture, 99.9 Percent wiped out
Image: Ramamukesh kewat orchha, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Red Headed Vulture, Critically Endangered
Image: Davidvraju, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The ecological consequences of the vulture decline proved far reaching and cascaded through the ecosystem and the society.
Where does it go from here?
While NSAID formula Meloxicam has been identified by experts as a vulture and scavenger safe alternative to Diclofenac, the latter’s use hasn’t been declining fast enough. Worse, at least eight other NSAIDs that are being touted as Diclofenac replacements have also been proven to be toxic to vultures (see table on the next page). As of 2021, Meloxicam remains the only NSAID that is vulture safe.
Vultures are slow breeders, and produce only one egg a year. The Jatayu Vulture Conservation and Breeding Centre in Haryana was the first to assist captive vultures breed and hatch eggs using an incubator.
Following their success, other vulture conservation centres and sanctuaries have been set up in Assam, West Bengal, MP, Jharkhand, Gujrat and Telangana, and NSAID free zones have been established around these places. Vulture populations also survive in small pockets elsewhere, including in some districts of Maharashtra, in Ramnagaram and Nagarhole (Karnataka) and the Nilgiris (Tamil Nadu).
It is from these places that their populations would spring back, if and when we can facilitate the existence of an environment free of Diclofenac and the other toxic NSAIDs.
Options, Options everywhere, Cattle owners beware!
While Diclofenac’s use and market share has been declining, a significant part of it has been taken by other NSAIDs also proven toxic to vultures. No progress can be made unless the use of vulture safe drugs (for now, only Meloxicam) becomes mainstream.
NSAID |
Toxicity to Vultures |
Legal Status |
|---|---|---|
| Diclofenac 160+ brands |
Toxic Toxicology research: click here, here, and here. |
Banned Available illegally and used widely. |
| Meloxicam 40+ brands and counting |
Safe for Vultures and Scavengers Relevant literature: click here, here, and here. |
Available |
| Aceclofenac "Diclofenac's Avatar" |
Toxic Toxicology research: click here and here. |
Available Proposals for a ban being floated by Jatayu Vulture Conservation & Breeding Centre, Haryana (2020). |
| Carprofen | Toxic Toxicology research: click here. |
Available |
| Flunixin | Toxic Toxicology research: click here and here. |
Available Restrictions and partial bans being considered in some districts of Tamil Nadu. |
| Ketoprofen | Toxic Toxicology research: click here and here. |
Available Except for in Tamil Nadu where it's banned. |
| Nimesulide | Toxic Toxicology research: click here. |
Available |
| Phenylbutazone | Shows indications for Toxicity Toxicology research: click here. |
Available |
| Tolfenamic Acid | Under investigation (as of 2021) |
Available |
What can we do?
Legal bans are slow to come about, and mostly ineffective, as demonstrated by the ban on Diclofenac. Citizen participation in vulture revival is needed, and will have to come through advocacy, awareness, and importantly, making the right choices for cattle-care on the ground.
If you own cattle and your animal is close to death, if possible, allow them to die naturally, without the assistance of painkillers.
While administering painkillers for regular inflammation management, it is crucial to read the ingredient label of the drug (and not the brand name). Ensure that the drug is not one of the red listed NSAIDs. Meloxicam has the backing of the government and conservation bodies, and more and more pharma companies are manufacturing it. It is not difficult to find.
The veterinarian may or may not be on your side on this one, so be prepared to hold your ground and insist on the scavenger safe option alone.
The majority of cattle owners in India do not have access to conservation literature. An aware and responsible cattle owner should also strive to educate fellow cattle owners about the vulture crisis, the problems it causes for everyone and the role the right drug selection can play in rehabilitating vulture populations. Older generations of farmers who once witnessed and benefitted from the ecological services of vultures can be useful allies here.
………
Meloxicam Poster Assets: Gorkhs, GDJ, and Blende12 from Pixabay