Pilot Vulture Release in Assam
One of the released White-Rumped Vultures
Six White-rumped Vultures were released on 19 March as a pilot by the Assam State Forest Department at the Vulture Reintroduction Aviary, Rani Range, near Guwahati, Kamrup District in Assam, NE India. The Critically Endangered birds have all been tagged with GPS / satellite transmitters for intensive monitoring. Four more wild vultures that have been successfully rehabilitated by the BNHS vulture team have also been fitted with transmitters and were released with the captive-bred birds – so ten birds were released in total. This release represents an important step towards the recovery of vultures which have been decimated across Asia by veterinary drugs.
In an important recent publication, Assam has been shown through undercover pharmacy surveys to have low levels of toxic veterinary drugs, although there was increasing availability of the toxic drug nimesulide. However, this, along with toxic drugs, aceclofenac and ketoprofen, have recently been banned by the Indian Government, and it is therefore hoped that the environment will be fully safe once these bans have taken full effect.
It is well established that toxic veterinary drugs used as painkillers in cattle can very quickly wipe out vulture populations, and the Assam Forest Department project, managed by BNHS, has been collecting cattle carcass samples to confirm that no toxic drugs remain in use. It has been shown (Green et al 2004) that fewer than 1% of cattle carcasses containing a lethal level of diclofenac was enough to result in the catastrophic declines of vultures observed in India from the mid-1990s to early 2000s. Therefore, a target of collecting and analysing 800 samples has been suggested to statistically give an acceptable level of confidence that no diclofenac is present in vulture food. At present, 150 samples have been analysed – and found to be free of toxic NSAIDs – with a further 650 to be collected within a 100 km radius of the release site. If these also prove to be free of vulture-toxic NSAIDs, this will allow further releases to proceed on a larger scale.
The six captive-bred vultures that were released all fledged at the nearby Rani Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre, which is managed by BNHS, with funds from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and the Assam Forest Department. Welcome support for feeding costs was provided by Adani this year. Additional funding for tagging wild vultures was received from Centre for Wildlife Studies (CWS).
Partner delegates at the release site
BNHS centre manager Dr Sachin Ranade said: “Our team will be constantly monitoring the movements of the birds to check for any issues, and we will be ready to intervene if needed or to determine the cause of any problems that occur.”
Dr Vinay Gupta, Chief Wildlife Warden, Assam stated: “We are proud that Assam has made important progress in removing dangerous veterinary drugs, and that we are closer to knowing that the environment is really safe for these important environmental cleaners.”
SAVE Chair Jemima Parry-Jones said: “Thanks to the foresight of Assam and the key support of the RSPB, we are moving in the right direction, with lower veterinary use of the toxic painkillers, and we are moving closer towards declaring a truly ‘Vulture Safe Zone’ once we have more information.”
Kishor Rithe, Director of BNHS said: “Getting the veterinary community and local farmers fully aware that meloxicam and tolfenamic acid are readily available and affordable safe options is something that is still in need of more effort, but the excellent work of the BNHS team with Assam Forest Department backing has made major progress here in Assam.”
Dr Vinay Gupta, Chief Wildlife Warden, and Kishor Rithe, Director of BNHS, watching the birds on the monitor
Chris Bowden, representing the RSPB at the release said: “It has been a long journey to determine and address the main drugs threat, and to also address other threats including accidental poisoning of vultures through poison baits set for large carnivores or rogue dogs. The huge efforts we have supported in maintaining and breeding safety-net captive populations of White-rumped and Slender-billed Vultures has been vitally important and this will allow for further releases once these problems have been removed.
It is a privilege to be here to see this today, and we must now keep up the efforts to ensure and check that the environment is safe enough for further releases, and then for the birds to flourish in the wild.”
Compiled by Chris Bowden
Photos courtesy of BNHS, Neena Laxshmanan, and Chris Bowden/RSPB.