The Vulture Safe Zone Concept

Conservation efforts for vultures should focus on ensuring a safe environment in which the birds can thrive. With this vision in mind the Vulture Safe Zone (VSZ) concept emerged in order to concentrate conservation effort into a manageable but meaningful area. VSZs were first initiated in Asia, in India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh, in response to the vulture crisis to create spaces free of the Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug (NSAID) diclofenac, which was used in veterinary practice and was the main reason for vulture declines.

The approach focusses on an area which is roughly a circle of 100 km radius and centred on important nesting colonies of vultures or where captive birds could safely be released.

The main conservation activities in Asian VSZs include:

1) Advocacy and awareness-raising of the NSAID bans now in force and the promotion of meloxicam and tolfenamic acid as vulture-safe NSAIDs; and

2) Monitoring the effects of conservation actions: tagging and monitoring vultures; conducting pharmacy surveys to monitor the availability of NSAIDs; and the provision of food uncontaminated by NSAIDs.

All VSZs start out as provisional, and only when it is confirmed that the threat to vultures has been eliminated can they be considered truly safe and be upgraded to full VSZ status.

Original criteria

Within the defined VSZ area, after 2 years of searching:

  • no diclofenac is found in pharmacies for veterinary use, and
  • no diclofenac is found in a minimum of 800 cattle carcass liver samples.

Furthermore, after 5 years of regular intensive monitoring:

  • no diclofenac or visceral gout is found in dead vultures within the area, and
  • vulture populations within the VSZ are either stable or increasing.

Now we know that diclofenac is not the only NSAID that is a threat to vultures, these criteria have been adapted:

Within the defined VSZ area, after 2 years of searching

  • The threat from toxic NSAIDs is sufficiently reduced, with undercover pharmacy surveys indicating <10% of pharmacies offer any toxic NSAID.

Furthermore:

  • Having 25 constantly tracked birds for two years (or equivalent bird-years) within the VSZ and
  • Having confirmation that NO mortality occurs due to NSAIDs poisoning.

Although this is the VSZ concept that has been developed from work in South Asia, there are also others interested in this concept including those working on African vultures where current threats do not include that from toxic NSAIDs. Potentially the concept could also spread into Europe and the Middle East, where this approach could also be beneficial.

Vulture Safe Zone Success in Nepal

In 2021 the first ever truly safe VSZ was declared in Nepal. The Gandaki-Lumbini VSZ near Chitwan National Park was declared after monitoring of pharmacy sales indicated that the threat of diclofenac was very low, and the annual survival of tagged vultures was shown to be high (> 0.97 for adults).

Initial efforts began at one breeding colony close to Chitwan National Park and subsequently led to local increases in numbers of nesting birds. This conservation effort first focussed on removing all available stocks of veterinary diclofenac from the areas surrounding the breeding colony (up to a distance of >50 km) and replacing this with the vulture safe drug meloxicam.

This was followed up with an extensive education and awareness programme on the value of vultures for the local community in regard to their ability to clean up carcasses and therefore help reduce the risk of disease and increasing numbers of feral dogs. Workshops were held with farmers, vets and pharmacists and interest from national and international tourists to visit and watch vultures also provided a further economic incentive for local communities to protect vultures.

Vultures have also been attracted to the area through the provision of regular and safe food in the form of a "Jatayu Restaurant". Safe food has been provided by establishing a cow shelter in the villages surrounding the vulture colonies. The cattle are housed in purpose built cow sheds and herded to fields on community owned land in the village where they can graze. Cattle are not killed and a project veterinarian ensures their welfare with regular checks. The animals die a natural death from old age and carcasses are then skinned (providing an important income to the project to pay the cattle herder and purchase more old animals) and the carcass is then placed out for vultures to feed upon.

Vultures from the captive breeding centre have also been released and monitored in the area and are now starting to breed, thus boosting the local population. Over seven years 69 vultures were released and in 2023 the Vulture conservation breeding centre was closed down when the last birds were released, a major milestone for the programme.

This VSZ approach has been valuable in getting the support of local and regional authorities, vets, pharmacies and livestock owners and awareness of the impacts of diclofenac and other similar drugs. A second Vulture Safe Zone is now being developed around Shuklaphanta National Park in far west Nepal.

Vulture Safe Zones across the region

The VSZ approach is also underway in India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, focussing on advocacy and awareness raising, and monitoring activities.

Bangladesh was the first country to have government approved Vulture Safe Zones, giving the VSZs the legal standing of a Protected Area. The responsibility is now on the government to manage and ensure the effectiveness of the VSZs.

The adoption of the VSZ approach is starting to expand into Cambodia and Myanmar, in southeast Asia, in order to reduce or eliminate threats to the extent that vulture populations can stabilise and recover. Vultures face a myriad of threats in southeast Asia including unintentional poisoning from poison baits, habitat degradation and decline of food availability, among others. A VSZ strategy is currently being explored in these countries in order to identify the opportunities and challenges.