Vulture population declined from 40 million to 19,000 in over 3 decades: Government

New Delhi: There has been a sharp decline in the population of vultures in the country which has come down from 40 million to 19,000 in over three decades, the Environment Ministry told the Parliament Friday.

Responding to a query on the status of vultures in the country, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said there are three species of critically endangered resident Gyps vultures- White-backed vulture, Long-billed vulture and Slender-billed vulture- whose population as per the latest figures is 6,000, 12,000 and 1,000, respectively.

"There has been a sharp decline in the vulture population. The crash in population was first noticed in the mid-90s and by 2007, there was a 99 per cent decline in the population of the three resident Gyps species of vultures," he said.

The minister said nationwide vulture surveys are being carried out by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) every four years sponsored by the Ministry of Environment and forest departments of various states since 1990.

"The surveys are carried out mainly for three species of critically endangered resident Gyps vultures- White-backed, Long-billed and Slender-billed. These three species were very common in the country with an estimated population of 40 million in early eighties. Based on the latest survey carried out in the year 2015 and the results published in 2017, there were about 6,000 White-backed vultures, 12,000 Long-billed vultures and 1,000 Slender-billed vultures," the minister said in a written reply.

The major cause of mortality of vultures was found to be the veterinary non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug 'Diclofenac', given to cattle in pain and inflammation.

"Diclofenac was found to be extremely toxic to vultures and causes renal failure. The Government of India banned the veterinary use of the drug in 2006 which was gazetted in the year 2008, but the misuse of multi-dose vials of human formulation of the drug in treating cattle was still causing mortality in vultures," Javadekar said.

On a question whether any vulture breeding centres have been established for their conservation, the minister said eight Vulture Conservation Breeding Centres (VCBCs) were established in different states of the country.

"Four of the centres, Pinjore in Haryana (established in 2004), Rajabhatkhawa (in 2006) in West Bengal, Rani in Assam (in 2009) and Kerwa near Bhopal (established in 2008) are managed by respective state forest departments with support from BNHS and the Union Ministry of Environment," he said.

"Four more centres i.e. Junagarh in Gujarat (established in 2006), Nandankanan in Odisha (in 2006), Hyderabad in Telangana (in 2006) and Muta in Ranchi are established in state zoos and are being run by state forest departments with support from the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) of the Ministry of Environment and technical support from BNHS," Javadekar said. With PTI inputs