The Hindu : Karnataka News : The vulture is now a rare bird in Kodagu

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 02, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

The vulture is now a rare bird in Kodagu

By K. Jeevan Chinnappa

Facing extinction? — Photo: Paul Noronha

MADIKERI, MAY 1. Vultures, which once ruled the skies in Kodagu, have become near extinct in the district. The birds feeding on the carcasses of cattle were a common sight in Kodagu in the past decade. However, no vultures are to be seen now, and no effort seems to have been made to find out the reasons for their disappearance.

Vultures, which are natural scavengers, played a role in preventing the spread of diseases by feeding on cattle carcasses dumped in isolated forest pockets by villagers who did not realise the harmful effects of their action.

It is said that vultures have declined in numbers not only in India but the entire South Asia. A report in The Hindu (on March 2, in an edition from Kerala) says ornithologists engaged in the Vulture Recovery Plan have indicated that the exposure of the creatures to a drug used as a painkiller for cattle, Diclofenac, is the major cause of their rapid decline. The drug is a steroidal anti-inflammatory combination used on disease-stricken cattle, and vultures exposed to it are said to have died of renal failure.

However, the Deputy Director of the Department of Animal Husbandry, Ramesh Murthy, feels this may not be the only reason for vultures facing extinction in Kodagu. He says lack of food such as carcasses of animals and drastic changes in their habitats are among other reasons. No ornithologist or environmental organisation has approached the department to find out the cause of disappearance of vultures in Kodagu, Dr. Murthy says.

Dead cattle are the largest source of food for vultures, which are basically carnivorous, according to the wildlife expert and environmentalist from Kodagu, K.M. Chinnappa. He says the decline in the number of vultures in Kodagu started 15 years ago; he was serving as a forest officer at the Nagarahole National Park at the time. However, last year, he sighted a few vultures in the park, he adds.

Mr. Chinnappa feels that there might have been carcasses for vultures to feed on in the park. In the past, "King Vultures'' and "Bengal Vultures'' were commonly found in Kodagu, he says. Fewer villagers rear cattle these days. Among those who do, there is awareness of the need to bury cattle carcasses, unlike in the past, and they know that diseases such as anthrax will spread if carcasses are allowed to decay in the open. Another factor in the disappearance of vultures in Kodagu is that large areas of their habitat have been converted into plantations.

A report says that the use of pesticides and changes in livestock management methods could also be factors for the reduced number of vultures. According to it, four species of vultures — Red-headed Vulture (Trogos calvus), long-billed vulture (Gyps indicus), White-rumped Vulture (Gyps bengalensis), and Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) are now rare.

A report by Birdlife International says that one in eight birds in the world face extinction, thanks to the unbridled expansion of agriculture.

"The global environment is under serious strain with a massive and increasing haemorrhage of biodiversity," it says.

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