Government has Taken Steps to Protect Vultures

Government has Taken Steps to Protect Vultures

The following are the important steps taken by Government for protection of Vultures in the country:

(i) Protection status of White backed, Long Billed and Slender Billed Vultures has been upgraded from Schedule IV to Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.

(ii) Two workshops were organized in in consultation with scientists in New Delhi in September 2000 and April, 2004 to work out a comprehensive strategy for conservation of vultures.

(iii) Bombay Natural History Society in collaboration with the Haryana State Forest Department has taken up a project on conservation breeding of vultures. A ‘Vulture Captive Care facility’ has been established at Panchkula.

(iv) The Ministry of Health has issued Gazette Notification dated 4.7.2008 prohibiting manufacture of Diclofenac for animal use and vide notification dated 17.7.2015 restricting packaging of multi-dose vials of Diclofenac to single dose.

(v) The State Governments have been advised to set up vulture care centres for the conservation of three species of vultures.

(vi) Government of India has formulated a National Action Plan (2006) on Vulture Conservation. The Action Plan provides for strategies, actions for containing the decline of vulture population through ex-situ, in-situ vulture conservation.

(vii) Department of forests of all states/UTs has been requested to constitute a Monitoring committee for vulture conservation with a view to implement the Action Plan, 2006 and for recovery of existing vulture sites.

(viii) Captive breeding centres at Zoos at Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Junagarh and Hyderabad have also been set up through Central Zoo Authority.

(ix) Ministry has also taken initiatives to strengthen the mass education and awareness for vulture conservation.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare issued Gazette Notification dated 4.7.2008 prohibiting manufacture of Diclofenac for animal use and later by Gazette Notification dated 17.7.2015 restricting on packaging of multi-dose vials of Diclofenac to single dose. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had been requested for stopping veterinary use of Diclofenac and later for restriction on packaging of Diclofenac (human formulations) to single dose packaging for human use and to discourage veterinary use of Diclofenac and incentivize the use of Meloxicam.

The use of anti-inflammatory drug Diclofenac has caused steep decline in the population of vultures in the country. A survey conducted by the Bombay Natural History Society under a special project sponsored in the year 2000 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change revealed that there has been more than 90 percent decline in the populations of three species of vultures viz, White Backed, Long Billed and Slender Billed in many parts of the country. Post-mortem and diagnostic tests have revealed that this decline has been due to consumption of the veterinary drug ‘Diclofenac’ by the vultures that fed on carcasses of livestock. Diclofenac causes deposition of uric acid in the visceral organs, leading to sudden death of vultures.

This information was given by Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment, Forest and Climate Change in reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.