A team of Indian and British researchers say the Asian vulture could be extinct within a decade, if measures are not taken to banish anti-inflammatory drugs for livestock.
Researchers have predicted the demise of Asian vultures unless drugs used on livestock are banned. Photo: White-backed vultures. Credit: Magnus Kjaergaard
Figures from a study by the Bombay Natural History Society show the overall numbers of the vultures collapsing, with one species, the white backed vulture, falling from about 30 million birds in the early 90s to about 11,000.
The researchers also found that the populations of long-billed vulture and slender-billed vulture had fallen by about 97% over the same period.
"Year on year, these two species are declining by about 16%," explained co-author Andrew Cunningham, from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). "This is pretty horrific but when you think that the white-backed vulture is declining by about 45-50% each year, that is truly staggering."
Experts believe the decline of the vulture would leave the job of scavenging to species more likely to carry diseases such as rats and feral dogs. They blame the spectacular decline in vulture numbers to the drug diclofenac, toxic to vultures, which is used by farmers as a anti-inflammatory drug for the region's livestock.
Though the Indian government has banned diclofenac, and a non-toxic replacement has been found, the farmers still prefer to use black market diclofenac because of its cheaper price.
However Dr Cunningham told BBC News; "The price difference is not as much as a problem as it appeared to be two or three years ago. It appears to be a painfully slow process, and far too slow to be sure that the vultures are going to survive."
The findings are published in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society.
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