For a long time the conservationists have given importance to only legendary animals – like Tiger, Panda, etc. and have missed out on animals and birds which are closely related to humans. Vultures are one such example.
Recently I was reading an article which states that total number of vultures have been reduced to such an extent that they are now endangered species and even few of them have already been extinct.
Till recently, extinction of vultures was considered to be the result of loss of their natural habitat and pollution. A recent study conducted on the extinction of Vulture has bought out a new dimension the problem. Population of vultures has been drastically reduced, partly due to poisoning by the anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac which is often given to human & cattle. In human and cattle it is given for pain relief, whereas in Vultures it causes renal failure.
Everyone knows that vultures are scavengers surviving on dead animal carcasses, especially cattle. Apart from this vultures also have a very important role in some religions like Zoroastrian (Parsis) & Hinduism.
Vulture is an important part in Hinduism. ‘Jatayu’ – the vulture king tried to save Sita in Ramayana from abduction by Ravana.
It has been traditional for dead Parsis to be taken to eaten by vultures, because earth, fire & water are all considered to sacred elements, which should not be defiled by the dead. Extinction of vultures has been resulting in serious problems at both the fronts. Their extinction means that the dead bodies will be left to rot and decompose slowly. If I am correct then in Mumbai Parsis take the corpse to the ‘Tower of Silence” where the city vultures eat it. After the slow extinction of Vultures from the city the bodies are taking a long time to decompose. Parsis in Mumbai have installed solar panels to speed up the decomposition process of corpse, which is met only with partial success.
Apart form this there are other side effects as well. According to a recent article in “American Scientific India” magazine, extinction of Vultures mean that the food it abundant for stray dogs thus giving rise in there population, which in turn result in the rise be rabies cases.It is just one of many examples of side effects that may happen with the extinction of one species.
