January 2019: South India Vultures Meeting and Action Plan Report
A milestone meeting was held in Jan 2018, bringing together experts and Governments of six south Indian states. It was supported by Raptor Research & Conservation Foundation (RRCF), and organised by Dept Zoology & Wildlife Biology, Govt Arts College, Ooty, Tamil Nadu. The report is now available on SAVE resources pages (in three parts) – the first includes meeting summaries, participants, and the key output which is a seventeen point action plan.
The regional action plan includes the following key points (see p.18 for full details):
1.The formation of a regional vulture working group, which is coordinated by Mr Bharathidasan S, with state level coordination as follows:1.Tamil Nadu – Dr B Ramakrishnan
2.Karnataka – Mr Rajkumar
3.Kerala – Mr C Sashikumar
4.Telangana – Mr M Ravikanth
5.Andhra Pradesh – Mr Shaik Hussain
2.An appeal to each state Government to avoid procurement for the veterinary services of the prime threat to vultures, veterinary painkillers (NSAIDs) so not only no diclofenac, but avoiding other drugs almost certain to be toxic to vultures, so no nimesulide, aceclofenac or ketoprofen.
3.Recognition that poison-baits may pose a real threat to vultures in the region, and so synergies urgently need to be found with ongoing eg anti-tiger poisoning efforts, and to prioritise and facilitate speedy compensation schemes for farmers who lose cattle to predators, so reducing the pressure to illegally set poisons.
4.– 17) Please go through…
Link to Overview, summaries of main talks, participants, regional vulture conservation action plan
Technical sessions 1 includes accounts of status, surveys and population estimates:
Technical sessions 2 includes accounts of conservation threats:
One further update: Following the South India State Co-ordinators meeting in Bandipur on 11th Nov 2018 a synchronized vulture survey was planned during the 1st week of Feb 2019. Due to the monkey virus outbreak in Kerala this survey was postponed. Fresh dates for the survey will be announced in due course.
We plan to bring you further updates from this group in future.