India's vultures
PrelimsCurrent affairs on this: Birds
The vultures hit hardest in India are the three Gyps species, the White rumped, the Long billed and the Slender billed, all Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List; the Red headed vulture is also Critically Endangered and the Egyptian vulture Endangered. All are in Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Diclofenac, a painkiller given to cattle, causes kidney failure in Gyps vultures that feed on a treated carcass, and it emptied India's skies in the 1990s. Recovery runs on two things at once.
India's vultures and their status
| Vulture | IUCN Red List |
|---|---|
| White rumped (Gyps) | Critically Endangered |
| Long billed (Gyps) | Critically Endangered |
| Slender billed (Gyps) | Critically Endangered |
| Red headed | Critically Endangered |
| Egyptian | Endangered |
- Birds are bred at the Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre at Pinjore in Haryana with the Bombay Natural History Society.
- The country is cleared of the drugs: veterinary diclofenac was banned in 2006, and aceclofenac and ketoprofen, which the animal's body converts to the same effect, in 2023.
- A Vulture Safe Zone is an area of about 100 km radius around a colony or release site kept clear of them.
See also: The three lists: IUCN, CITES and the WPA schedules