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Vultures struck by killer disease in Rajasthan

An unidentified disease is taking a toll of vultures at the Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur, Rajasthan.

There were about 150 vulture nests three years ago. Now, there are none.

According to Dr Vibhu Prakash, principal scientist of the Bombay Natural History Society, who is working on a project to increase the vulture population, the disease had spread among the vultures, due to which these big birds sit with their necks hanging limp and they die within 30 days.

Four BNHS teams that recently surveyed areas throughout the country for information on the vulture population and their breeding patterns found that only a few thousand vultures remain. A very high chick mortality rate was also observed.

The specimens of some species had reduced to just a few thousand in four years and these could disappear in two-three years, Prakash said.

He said it was probably an infectious disease, but the virus has not yet been identified.

''It is very difficult to obtain fresh vulture carcasses. Efforts are being made to obtain permission to shoot a few sick vultures for examination,'' he said.

The disease diagnostic work is going on at a poultry diagnostic laboratory in Pune, Maharashtra. Attempts are being made to grow the virus in chicken eggs for the diagnosis of the disease.

According to Prakash, white-backed vultures, which nest on trees, and long-billed vultures, which nest on cliffs, have been affected by the disease.

On the cliffs near Bayana tehsil of Bharatpur district, there used to be at least a thousand nests of long-billed vultures, but these days there are only 60-70.

The BNHS team noticed about 100 vultures in the area this year. Only 100 nests of both species have been seen in Bharatpur district. In the 13 nests of white-backed vultures, the nestlings were found dead.

According to Prakash, there were 353 nests in the park in 1987-88, but their number reduced to 150 in 1996-97, 25 in 1997-98, 20 in 1998-99 and this year there were no nests in the park, he said.

Ornithologists are worried about the drastic decline in the population of vultures, who keep the environment clean by devouring animal carcasses. According to Prakash, hundreds of vultures used to descend on an animal carcass and finish off all the meat in less than half-an-hour. Today, the dead rot for days, with only dogs and crows consuming the meat.

The putrefying carcasses pollute the environment and cause public health problems. The vultures were scared of dogs at carcasses these days, but earlier when in good numbers, they would chase the dogs away, he added.

UNI

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