HYDERABAD: Forest and Zoo officials believe that vultures in the state have been totally wiped out. They say the last surviving five oriental White-backed vultures could be the ones captive at the Nehru Zoological Park, Hyderabad.The vulture is not a hunter or food gatherer and according to experts has disappeared from the state. In 2010, there were four vultures in Srisailam forest and Adilabad carcass dumping area, according to the 2010 survey of Laboratory for Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES), Hyderabad. In 2007, there were about 15 to 20 vultures across AP, including Jawaharnagar dumping yard in Alwal, Hyderabad. Before 2000, there were around a hundred. But population of all three species of vultures, Oriental White-backed, Long-billed and Slender-billed vultures have declined by more than 97 percent in state and the country, informed a scientist at LaCONES, who is part of vulture survey team.He asserted that there are no other vultures in the state. The reasons for diminishing numbers are, vultures’ food which consists of animal carcasses has decreased at open places and vultures are not hunters and food gatherers, said the scientist.Another main reason is diclofenac, which is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug used for treating ailing livestock and is responsible for decline in vulture population of south Asian countries like India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The birds scavenge on the carcasses of these animals. The birds ingest the diclofenac and die, according to a recent report of Saving Asia’s Vultures from Extinction (SAVE), a consortium of Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and UK-based Royal Society for Protection of Birds (RSPB).Nehru Zoological Park Trying to Breed VulturesThe central zoo authority has sanctioned `40 lakh for a vulture breeding centre at Nehru zoological park. Other centres too have been set up across the country. The zoo officials with their five captive 24-year-old Oriental white-backed vultures (three female and two male) have begun breeding process after fertility certification by Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology. CCTV cameras have been set up to observe the birds’ behaviour.With efforts of zoo and LaCONES officials, an egg was laid by a white-backed vulture in January this year. But unfortunately it fell from the nest and got smashed. The male vulture, in a bid to readjust the nest pulled out a few twigs which led to the egg getting smashed. This has been captured by CCTV cameras.Though veterinary doctors at zoo said that once the first egg is lost, the bird usually lays a second one. But it has not happened so. Doctors also opine that these captive 24-year-old vultures cannot be expected to breed. “We can expect breeding if CZA gets young pairs from other zoological parks or it is waste of time, money and energy here with these old zoo vultures,” asserted a zoo doctor.
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