The Bombay Natural History Society and Royal Society for the Protection of Birds have agreed the following summary and guidance protocols for establishing Vulture Safe Zones. With increasing interest in removing diclofenac from veterinary practice (the main cause of vulture declines across South Asia), this summary sets out some priorities needed to achieve this, and some pitfalls to avoid, particularly in relation to Vulture Restaurants.
Protocols and Agreed Policy
Background
Vultures worldwide are under increasing pressures, and in Africa in particular, where food scarcity has been an issue, the provision of ungulate carcasses at regular feeding stations (called ‘vulture restaurants’) has been a successful way of supporting vulture populations. This has potential for showing the birds to tourists (helping generate associated revenue) and generally drawing attention to the threats faced by vultures, whilst at the same time providing a steady food source. This document explains why the situation in Asia is rather different, and requires much more than this simple (and often rather appealing) apparent solution if we are to prevent these species from extinction.
Vulture declines across Asia since the 1990s have been among the most dramatic and rapid of any bird species. Three species of Gyps vultures, Oriental white-backed, Long-billed and Slender-billed vultures have already suffered more than 97% declines, and one of them (Oriental white-backed vulture) has already declined by over 99.9% over a period of just 15 years and continues to decline at a rate of 40% per year! The main cause has been clearly established as the veterinary use of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) drug diclofenac that is toxic to vultures feeding on cattle carcasses of animals that have been treated with the drug shortly before their death. The removal of diclofenac from the environment in parallel with a breeding for release programme has been the priority conservation actions in Asia so far. Concerted efforts to remove diclofenac from wide areas where remaining vulture populations still persist is a further approach, creating ‘vulture safe zones’. These represent a combination of actions that are essentially the same, whether for maintaining remaining wild vulture populations or creating safe areas where the captive birds can be released. This involves a range of activities, primarily addressing the removal of diclofenac, and in some cases it may also be appropriate for provisioning of safe food or ‘restaurants’ as an element.
Priority activities for conserving Asia’s vultures
1. Removal of diclofenac
High-level advocacy has been needed, passing on research results and their context to the relevant senior Government officials, mainly within central Government but also expanding this to state government levels. Veterinary diclofenac formulations have been banned in India, Nepal and Pakistan. This has involved coordination between multiple government ministries. One of the main challenges now is preventing human diclofenac from being used for veterinary purposes. Ensuring that other toxic drugs, such as ketoprofen, do not become widely used is also a key action.
2. Identifying a safe alternative drug to facilitate the above
Extensive safety testing undertaken in India and South Africa, with the involvement of Indian scientists from the BNHS and IVRI, has established that the veterinary NSAID meloxicam is safe for Asia’s critically endangered vultures as well as a range of other scavenging birds. Meloxicam is the pain killer of choice for treating cattle in Europe and North America and is an effective drug, with fewer side effects than diclofenac. Over 20 manufacturers in South Asia produce meloxicam and prices are gradually declining towards those of diclofenac as manufacturing increases. The safety of another NSAID, ketoprofen has also been tested, but it was found to cause the death of vultures at dose levels vultures are likely to encounter in the wild when feeding on treated livestock. The prevention of its use for veterinary purposes in vulture range states is strongly recommended. Other veterinary NSAIDs, are being used, but their effect on vultures has not been tested so currently only meloxicam formulations are known to be safe.
3. Establishing a breeding programme
Recognising the challenge of removing diclofenac before the last vultures had been poisoned, it was agreed that breeding programmes should be established for all three Gyps vulture species most affected. This is underway, and the first successful breeding of two species has now been achieved. More founder stock is still urgently required to ensure genetic diversity is maintained. High breeding productivity is required and in the future groups of birds bred within the centres will be released in to areas identified as having no diclofenac threat.
4. Maintaining remaining wild populations
It is hoped that at least some extant populations may escape the diclofenac threat, but surveys so far show continuing catastrophic declines of all three species across South Asia. Intensifying awareness-raising of the issue, particularly to vets, pharmacies and farmers, and the removal of diclofenac, in areas surrounding small remaining colonies has shown early promising results in Nepal. As one of its components, this work has also involved feeding vultures with safe food, from old cattle that are herded and looked after until their natural death, and then placed out in areas close to a breeding colony. As well as supplementing their diet, the major objective of this is to try to reduce the foraging range of vultures at the colony to ensure that most birds obtain food from the vulture safe zone where diclofenac stocks have been removed. Involvement of the local community has also created business opportunities and the key support of local groups. In India, panderapols (cattle sanctuaries), if properly managed for safe drug use, can also safely act as focal points for creating vulture safe zones in the surrounding areas, as they still attract vultures as they have done for centuries. Because vultures forage over large areas, a key aspect of creating an effective ‘vulture safe zone’ is that it needs to be sufficiently large to encompass the vast majority of foraging trips. Satellite tracking and population modelling indicate that a zone completely free of diclofenac with a minimum radius of 100 km is required to create a sufficiently large safe area to protect populations.
The protocols for creating and effectively running vulture safe zones are important measures which can be taken up more widely at a local scale, and can act to further raise awareness of the issues facing the few declining vulture populations that remain. These measures are distinct from setting up ‘vulture restaurants’, which aim to bolster vulture numbers through supplementary feeding. While such ‘restaurants’ have been effective for protecting vulture numbers in Africa and Europe, they are unlikely to be effective in Asia, as a lack of food is not threatening vulture numbers. Without taking strict measures to ensure that all carcasses are diclofenac free, ‘restaurants’ may inadvertently poison the vultures they are trying to protect. Even if food is known to be safe, a ‘restaurant’ will not be effective and may even be harmful, if the surrounding area still contains pharmacies and vets that are using diclofenac or other toxic drugs as carcasses in the area will be fed on by vultures, leading to mortalities and further declines.
Key components of vulture safe zones (VSZ)
1. Awareness work of NSAIDs threat and role of vultures in the environment – involving contact outreach to the following:
- Senior government officials ie:
- Forest Dept, Chief Wildlife warden, Forest officials and local beat officers
- Animal Husbandry, State animal husbandry commissioner, Senior vets, local veterinary officers
- Health, state drug controller, local drug inspectors
- Druggists and Chemists associations
- Drug distributors, local drug vendors & pharmacists
- Veterinary colleges within state or local
- Local community leaders
- Farmers groups and paramedics
- Environmental NGOs (regional and local) and community level pressure groups
- School headmasters, teachers, school children
2. Vulture monitoring
- Annual surveys of numbers of all nesting vultures and their breeding success in the 100-km radius vulture safe zone, or at least of a large and representative sample of breeding sites within the zone.
- Regular searches for dead vultures at breeding sites and roosts within the zone and post mortem examination to look for visceral gout.
3. Supplementary feeding (not an essential element of a VSZ)
- Use only carcasses guaranteed free of untested NSAIDs
- Run by local communities
- Close to tourism sites for income generation
- Sale of manure, bones, skin helps sustainability/income
- Awareness-raising tool – display materials and activities act to increase vigilance. Potential for information/interpretation centres at these sites and local tourism
- Monitor numbers of birds using the restaurant
4. NSAID monitoring and removal
- Vigilance/surveys at sales outlets and use by veterinarians, and agreements signed to ensure unsafe drugs are not used, within a minimum 100 km radius of the focal point of the site (ideally a nesting colony)
- Testing of cattle carcasses to check for dangerous NSAIDs
- Removal of diclofenac or other harmful drug stocks from pharmacies and veterinary organisations, through a swapping programme for meloxicam
- Follow up surveys and where appropriate highlighting any shops/vets that have broken laws on diclofenac use
If vulture safe zones can prove to be effective and maintain wild vulture populations, then they will provide a model for potential release sites/areas for future reintroduction from birds reared within vulture conservation breeding centres. Because fledglings and immature birds have lower survival in the wild, and often disperse much longer distances than adults, these are at greater risk if they leave the diclofenac free area. It may be wise therefore to take young birds into captivity for safekeeping and release only once they are older.
Essential protocols applied to vulture feeding sites within a vulture safe zone
- Ensuring there is NO DICLOFENAC or other untested NSAIDs in a cattle carcass is the biggest and over-riding challenge which means that using carcasses with unknown medical history IS UNACCEPTABLE
- Old live cattle either donated (eg panderapols or cow shelters in India) or bought very cheaply (this is already being done in Nepal)
- Good veterinary care administered using herbal or known vulture safe treatments only
- Kept until natural death – (so timing is unpredictable and may be unavoidably irregular)
- All products such as manure, bones, skin sold as part of the business
- Designated area where carcasses taken for vultures to feed – with potential for observation screen/platform to allow viewing and local tourism opportunities
- Associated publicity has clear diclofenac/NSAIDs messages
- Run entirely by local community – requires well motivated individual(s) to run the operation
- Transparency on how the system works is essential
- May need external support to initiate the system
Note: The funding requirements for supplementary feeding could easily be high, especially if local communities and systems are not central to the initiative. Care is needed that they should not divert conservation funds from the higher priority awareness work outlined above.
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