White-rumped vulture might not be extinct after all

KARACHI – The white-rumped vulture (Gyps bengalensis) considered to be nearing extinction in Pakistan might not be completely wiped out as the bird was recently photographed by a non-governmental organisation worker in Achhro Thar (White Desert), Sanghar district.
The vulture – listed as ‘critically endangered’ in International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List and in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species – was pictured sitting atop a tree by Ideal Rural Development Programme officials, working in the White Desert for conservation of wetlands, birds and ecosystem.
The white-rumped vultures have dramatically declined in numbers since the 1990s, in part due to loss of habitat and nesting grounds, primarily a result of urbanisation. But the greatest threat comes from the farmers’ use of veterinary anti-inflammatory drug ‘diclofenac’, which causes renal failure in vultures that feed on cattle carcasses.
IRDP project officer Pretam Das told Pakistan Today that the non-profit organisation has been working in Achhro Thar for a long time but witnessed this endangered bird for the first time last week. “After reports on presence of Gyps bengalensis in the White Desert, we made a few teams and identified some places, where our members saw the birds for the first time. So far, the vultures have been reported in Sadau and Ranauo areas, while we are searching for more birds in other places,” said Pretam.
The white-backed vulture (Gyps africanus) is common in Achhro Thar, but white-rumped vulture is good news for nature conservationists, he added. White-rumped vultures range from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Thailand, Cambodia, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and also in some parts of Vietnam and China, and have been reported in Afghanistan and Iran. They are considered extinct in southern China and Malaysia, but one of the most viable populations lives in the northern and eastern plains of Cambodia.
However, in Pakistan and India the bird population is dwindling due to consumption of diclofenac-contaminated carcasses of livestock animals.
Interestingly, the decline in number of white-rumped vultures has dealt a blow to the small Parsi ethnic minority, who are prohibited by their religion from burying or burning their dead and depend on carrion-eating birds to help dispose of corpses.
WWF Pakistan’s Indus for All Programme director and team leader Rab Nawaz said that due to the usage of diclofenac, the vultures are dying and only a breeding stock is left in Pakistan. “We all need to highlight the importance of the bird and raise awareness in the general public for not using the banned drug,” he added.
Supporting Nawaz’s statement, Pakistan Wetlands Programme senior director and national project manager Dr Ghulam Akbar said that Thar is the last abode of this vulture specie in the country. “It is surviving in Thar because people hardly use diclofenac for livestock but despite that, we need to highlight the importance of this scavenger bird,” he added.
Expressing happiness over the finding of the bird, UNDP Small Grants Programme manager Masood Lohar said that it was a good sign that the vultures nearing extinction are being reported in new places like Achhro Thar. “Under the UNDP’s Small Grants Programme, ‘Vulture Restaurant’ was recently introduced in the Nangarparkar area of Thar Desert to general raise awareness on the conservation of endangered species of vultures,” he said.
“After the programme, we received reports from Ahmedabad in India and some areas in the Tharparkar district that vultures have spread to those areas as well while the report in Achhro Thar is a sign that vultures have found a new place to live, which will hopefully result in an increase in their populations,” added Lohar.
The renowned environmentalist said that although his organisation had not conducted any research on the finding of vultures in Achhro Thar under the Vulture Restaurant programme, theoretically it could be assumed that the vultures might have fled to the White Desert from Tharparkar.