Apathy of Wildlife Wing of Forest Department and Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), a non-government agency named nodal agency for wildlife conservation, is delaying setting up of a rescue-cum-breeding centre for vultures in Gadchiroli district.
The 179 species of vultures, including white-backed, long-billed and slender-billed, are fast vanishing due to starvation and disease. The natural scavengers are now on the verge of extinction. A number of them are also believed to have died after eating dead cattle treated with drug Diclofenac. The drug causes kidney failure and gout in vultures. As per the estimate by Dr Ajay Poharkar, Secretary of National Association for Welfare of Animals and Research (NAWAR) and Research In-charge of Vulture Conservation project, Gadchiroli, the total population of the critically endangered birds in Maharashtra is now just 200. Some 80 of them are in Gadchiroli district and 15 in the Pench National Park area of Nagpur district. Dr Poharkar said that there was still a ray of hope in captive breeding of vultures. Therefore, he submitted a proposal to the Forest Department a couple of months ago for setting up of a rescue-cum-breeding centre in the district. The breeding atmosphere is favourable in the district as the tribals have still protected habitats for these birds. The centre would take steps to breed the birds in captivity and then release them in the wild. When contacted, B Majumdar, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife), who admitted that the population of scavengers is dwindling at an alarming rate, said that the proposal has been forwarded to the nodal agency BNHS with a request to conduct a survey to examine establishment of the rescue-cum-breeding centre at Gadchiroli. He pointed out that such centres have been opened at Haryana and West Bengal to protect the birds. Majumdar said that he had reminded BNHS recently and its Director Asad Rehmani had assured to depute an officer for conducting a survey in Gadchiroli district. BNHS would then recommend to the Central government that would approve the proposal and sanction funds for the purpose. Meanwhile, Dr Poharkar has expressed his unhappiness over the lackadaisical attitude of the department and BNHS on such a serious issue. He said vultures’ disappearance was also causing economic and social problems too. He pointed out crows, dogs and other animals have replaced vultures as natural scavengers and were carrying tissues of dead animals to human habitations spreading Zoonotic diseases, Rabies, Anthrax, Leptospirosis etc. He said vultures cleaned up a carcass of dead animal in less time and remained away from human beings. The vultures were also starving because they do not get food as cows, oxen, buffaloes or goats were now being taken to slaughter houses. As for economic problems, Dr Poharkar stated that Rs 1,000/- was required for hygienic disposal of a dead animal. Thus the country loses crores of rupees for something that vultures did for free. Vultures also play an important role in maintaining the ecosystem. Vulture was not an endangered species four years ago when it was included in Schedule IV of Wildlife Protection Act. The Central Government has now included it in Schedule I being critically endangered species like tigers. Dr Poharkar informed that the recently-celebrated Wildlife Week in Gadchiroli district ended with the death of a white-backed vulture in Dhanora village due to Visceral Gout. He asked whether we were going to do anything more than just celebrate such weeks to save wildlife? In the meanwhile, Arjun Dhanwate, Managing Director of Puntambekar Developers and Ritz Safari, said that the government should involve private parties to save vultures from total extinction. Since private parties would spend money for establishment of rescue-cum breeding centres there would not be much delay in the process. Dhanwate, who has conducted a survey at Pench National Park, where 15 scavengers exist, is taking an initiative to set up such a centre and is ready to bear its entire cost. He is submitting a proposal to the Wildlife Wing of Forest Department soon in this regard. Meanwhile, depleting population of vulture has created problems for Parsee community. Traditionally, Parsees keep body of their dead on the Towers of Silence for vultures to dispose it of, said Dilnavaz Bhagwagar, a prominent member of the community. There is no problem here in Nagpur as Parsees here bury their dead at Seminary Hills cemetery.
