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.

As we got up in the mountains, the air became fresher and drier, the vegetation slowly changing from Sal into pine forests. We arrived in Devidhura on the 4^th of august 2009 and the first impression was that the festival brings many people from far away, bringing a lot of life to the village during this period. A market of clothes, jewelries, food and many other things was in place along the main street. We walked down towards the temple, there was a volley-ball game happening. We reached a spot where we were blissfully surprised to see about ten vultures sitting in trees below us, Himalayan Griffons, Lammergeier and Red-headed vultures. They were looking over to the place where the carcasses of buffalos are thrown, after each sacrifice. They were certainly waiting for the right moment to access the carcasses.

During the evening, we saw a show of local singing and dances, with the beautiful girls of kumaon wearing their traditional dress.

The day after, we went looking for a place with a good view overlooking the “battle field”. As we waited for the fight to begin, hundreds of people were arriving from almost everywhere, taking seats on the slopes of the hill, in anticipation of the fight.

When it began, we saw the teams that were about to fight arriving one after the other, in a ceremony of dances, drums, shouting and running, some men carrying large wicker shields. It looked very disorganised. There are actually four teams coming from four different villages, and they end up as two teams fighting against each other. While the teams were arriving, two massive clouds converged over the battle field, giving a mystic feel to the arena. After that, the fight began! As it did, the rain started falling heavily, too. The rain didn’t dampen in the atmosphere, everyone was very excited and the drums kept pounding on. Men were throwing rocks in the air to hit the other team, which is the goal of Bagwaal! In the middle of the field, a group of men carrying shields, covering themselves, were fighting with sticks.

The sight of the many stones flying through the air was astonishing but also scary since they could have hit us. The whole battle was absolutely incredible to see. To announce the end of the fight, an old man carrying a small copper shield runs among the men, waving a sort of plume around his head. After few minutes the men stopped throwing rocks and started embracing each other, the two teams mixing together. They would go to see the persons injured and congratulate them, with big smiles on their faces and also exchange their scarves. A great feeling of joy was palpable. We ended up drenched but so amazed at what we just had seen.

This festival was unbelievable and we could feel an astounding strength among all those people.

Being in Devidhura and especially during this astonishing festival could only bring us to one of Jim Corbett’s hunt for a man eater, as described in The Temple Tiger. In his story, he headed to “Dabidhura” (called nowadays Devidhura) in order to shoot a leopard man-eater that had tried to killed a man close to the great temple of the village. But when he reached the place, he decided to track and kill a tiger that was slaughtering cattle quite often in the area, a huge cause of concern for the local villagers who have very little possession. A strange thing that Jim was taught by the local priest was “I have no objection, Sahib, to your trying to shoot this tiger, but neither you nor anyone else will ever succeed in killing it”. What was so special about this tiger? A mystic feeling, once again, was covering the village.

In his many attempts to shoot the tiger, Jim faced several problems. First, he was not able to fire because of a new riffle that he didn’t know how to use properly. The next time, he shot at the tiger’s back but did not kill him or even seemed to injure him. After that, he missed the tiger by a few inches. Finally, the tiger went to Jim, while he was sitting up in a tree, waiting to shoot the cattle killer. But at this stage, Jim could not shoot him, and by firing in the air, he made the tiger disappear down the hill. After that, Jim left Dabidhura, hoping that the tiger, “this old warrior, like an old soldier, just faded away”.

Finally, the old priest was right; no one can kill the Temple Tiger.

]]> http://www.mahseerconservancy.org/blog/2009/11/07/a-story-of-bagwaal-by-frederique-lacraz/feed/ 0 http://www.mahseerconservancy.org/blog/2009/11/06/study-on-vultures-begins-tribune-news-service/ http://www.mahseerconservancy.org/blog/2009/11/06/study-on-vultures-begins-tribune-news-service/#comments Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:00:06 +0000 Mahseer Conservancy http://www.mahseerconservancy.org/blog/?p=187 Dehradun, July 18

As a part of Vulture Study Programme, the research scholars from France have kick-started their study from today. The scholars will be here for three months.

These researchers of France University are undergoing National Diploma in Environment and have created special study sites at Ringora village, to study vultures who have their nests in the region in big numbers. While dwindling number of vultures in the country have been a cause of concern, Uttarakhand has somehow recorded these vultures in good numbers.

Jacob, a scholar said that studying vultures in Corbett would certainly help them in a better way. He disclosed that they would monitoring the nests round the clock.

You can find this article by clicking on the following link:

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090719/dun.htm#10

While he was here, Jacob stayed at Ringora’s homestay. It was an ideal place to work since there is a colony of White-rumped vultures in three trees, located at about 50m from the homestay. Every morning, Jacob did an early monitoring of the vultures sitting in the trees and nests, recording the number of juveniles and adults present. He also recorded the take-off times, the landing times and every time he would see a vulture flying in the sky. He also went to Tumeria Khatta inhabited by Van Gujjars tribes who are traditionally herdsmen, where another colony of vulture has been identified. He regularly monitored the feeding site of Hathi Dagar, where carcasses are regularly dumped and vultures come to feed.

Jacob is from Montreal (Canada) but lives nowadays in the south of France. He has been passionate by raptors and wolves since he was five and always wanted to act for their protection. He did a five weeks internship in a falconry park, in France, which made him work closely with birds of prey. Jacob also loves mountains, trekking and wildlife. He did graduation in sciences and is currently following a two years course (a High National Diploma) in “Management and Protection of Nature” at the University Legta des Barres (France).

Jacob ended up with very good data regarding vulture population of the area but also good ideas regarding their conservation, like for example opening a vulture restaurant, where carcasses would be left for the vultures.His internship in India was an exceptional experience and he will never forget it. This trip was also a chance for him to work concretely with birds of prey, and it also gave him an idea on his future job.  After this course he would like to continue his studies in mountains areas, more precisely to work for the conservation of raptors and/or wolves in the French Alps.