In the last twenty years three species of Indian vulture have gone from being one of the most prolifically abundant raptors to top of the IUCN Critically Endangered list. The reason behind the current Indian Vulture disaster that befell those graceful giants of the sky is the same as for the cause of the declines in so many other species; humans. But is there something that stands out about the Indian Sub-continent vulture crisis from other animal wipe-outs, past and present, and is there a last hope for the vultures?

It is difficult for someone from a country where vultures have never been present to grasp the breath-taking rapidity and scale of this wipe-out. India in the mid 1980’s had an estimated 40 million of just Indian white-backed vultures (Gyps bengalensis). These birds were a part of the urban and country scenery as crow or seagulls in the UK. And then they were gone. Vanished. The figure for White-backed vultures is over 99.9% of the population killed, and the rest going the same way.

Nowadays the factors influencing the destruction of the world’s species are usually at the same time well-known and complex issues. In all too many cases the people and companies causing the destruction of wildlife are entirely conscious of what they are doing; the poachers who takes the last tiger out from a tiger reserve, the company which takes toxic waste out to sea and dumps it because the fine is tiny fraction of the cost of dealing with it responsibly. In these cases the catalysts stem from huge issues like global poverty and corporate greed.

Extinction of vultures in India was not something that anybody planned or wanted.

Diclofenac’s impact on vultures was totally unexpected. Perhaps the vulture disaster falls into the category of unforeseen, unintentional accidental exterminations of wildlife, except that in this case humans are already suffering the damage along with the vultures. Some figures for the costs both in terms of human health and economic costs to the Indian government are both astronomical and plausible.

Diclofenac was the silent invisible assassin of the vulture, a pain-killer for livestock introduced at the end of the 1980s. By the time is was discovered to be the cause of the vulture kill-off and the prompt and well adhered to ban for veterinary use implemented it was already too late for most the vultures.

With it completely gone from livestock there would hypothetically be no real obstacles in their way given enough time; the food availability is still there and many vultures will happily nest in villages so long as there are suitable trees.

However with veterinary Diclofenac banned, now human-use Diclofenac (which is the same product with the same effects on vultures) has been subverted to the livestock market. In almost every village in India there will be a small, non-descript drugstore and in perhaps a large percentage of these shops local dairy farmers, probably completely unaware of the ban or consequences will be buying Diclofenac for their cattle.

When talking to people they relate how they used to see so many vultures. They used to be a part of the scenery. Vultures were one of those few species who people thought could never go away, and had even adapted to benefit from humans and flourish around them. Meanwhile they were performing an invaluable cleaning service to us, in the least intrusive way possible. The biggest intrusion a vulture can ever have to a human is to poo on him, and this requires co-operation by the person to stand underneath the vulture and wait.

The vulture has shown itself to be an adaptable, useful and likeable creature to humans, and the case for preserving them at least in small numbers comes down to one main problem; removing human-use Diclofenac from the veterinary market. This at least presents a clear cut and definable target, and is helped by the facts that nobody makes fortunes selling it under-the-counter, or buys it to deliberately poison vultures, and lastly that there is clearly a large economic incentive for the return of vultures. With all the good work that went into banning and removing Diclofenac from the market and replacing it with an affordable alternative, Meloxicam, it would surely be tragic to let the last few wild vultures slip away now. The human population explosion that is currently taking more and more available habitat and the chemical toxins we are contaminated the earth, water, air, and biosphere become more numerous and complex in their affects the more species will struggle to survive. If a species as abundant and tolerant of humans as gyps vultures can be so devastated in a such a short time then we must consider this a warning shot to be heeded.

Hanuman and Ram

Ram Leelas are one of the most celebrated festivals in the Hindu religion. The format is for every town and village to hold their own Ram Leelas re-enacting the Ramayana – the story of Rama – over 10 consecutive days, telling each “chapter” of the story on the different days.

The general overview of the Ramayana is that after Rama, Lakshman and Sita are exiled into the forest Sita is kidnapped by the king of Lanka, Ravana. With the help of the monkey army led by Hanuman and also some vultures who have seen Ravana taking Sita, Rama and Lakshman begin their epic voyage to rescue Sita and for Rama to gain his rightful place as the king of Kosala.

The Ramayana is a very animalistic story – there are various animals that are important to not only the Indian culture and Hindu religion but also crucial to the survival of the Indian wildlife and nature. For example there is the vulture that, after being mortally wounded trying to rescue Sita from Ravana, the king of Lanka, which informs Rama and Lakshman that Sita has been kidnapped. Also Rama is cursed after Rama’s father kills a Sarus Crane (the tallest flying bird) at the beginning of the story – and it is due to this curse that eventually Rama’s step-mother gets Rama exiled for fourteen years and gives the story reason to happen. There is also the golden deer that Sita wants Rama to kill which then leads to Lakshman leaving Sita by their hut and eventually being enticed out of the magic circle and getting kidnapped by the demon-king of Lanka.

Vanishing Vultures being Screened

Even in the small villages the Ram Leelas are made to be as impressive as possible. There are hundreds of people attending in the small villages and even more in the bigger towns; each Ram Leela is full of singing, dancing, music and general festivities.  Throughout the evening there are pauses in proceedings in between acts. These are primarily for changing the costumes, the background and also giving the people a little rest to get some food etc. Normally these intervals last between 20-30mins. It is these intervals that give Mahseer Conservancy the perfect opportunity to raise awareness to the local people and farmers about the critical decline of the vulture population throughout the whole of India.

The Ram Leelas are also used to raise awareness by Mahseer Conservancy as there are hundreds of people all in one place looking at the stage – where, of course, there was, during the intervals, a projector screen placed in full view. The plan was for the “V-team” to go to the Ram Leelas and during the intervals to put on a short film promoting awareness as to why the vultures are dying out at such an alarming rate and also showing how they, the people, could prevent the extinction of a creature that is vital to the eco-system.

Sanjay appeals for vultures

After the film was shown there was a short speech made to emphasize the most important parts of the feature and also awareness leaflets were handed out en-masse to as many people as possible in the audience.

Distributing Pamphelets

Although it’s impossible to measure the success of the campaign using numbers and figures it is possible to show how much people cared about it; the Ramayana and therefore Ram Leelas are big Hindu festivals and no-one objected to the film depicting dead cows and even the skinning of the cow carcasses which is quite amazing as it showed that even the more religious Hindus were prepared to look at pictures of to them, sacred, cows dead and dying in the name of vulture conservation. Not to mention the amount of press coverage that the campaign got – making it on to both local and nation television, and also getting into the newspapers.

Simple Message for an Important Issue

Audience watching Vulture awareness programme

Hopefully, and with the help of this type of awareness rising, in the near future we will be able to see vultures circling in the sky once again.