Years back, about 25 years past (from 2000), I
took a photograph of vultures attending a cattle on the roadside while
returning to home in Puri. Somehow, it had aroused my curiosity perhaps a
stimulation coming from the new Minolta Camera I was handling then. At that time
I was not aware that such a sight shall ever be rare in future because vultures
were neither very much liked nor in any manner in demand by the people.
Thus, it used to be a common sight then to find
vultures attending carcasses. That used to be nature's own way of keeping the
area clean and also perhaps to compensate the 'inappropriate systems of
carcass-disposal' by humans.
The last such congregations of vultures I ever
saw was in the banks of river Chambal during 1983-1985. Everytime, on our return
trips to Rajghat from a day-long search for radio-fitted gharial, we used to
see the vultures bathing, cleaning their wings and drying these spread open in
the afternoon sun. Of course, they had some specified spots where they
congregated.
After coming to Similipal in 1987, sighting a
congregation of over 30 vultures have never been possible. As such, Similipal
Tiger Reserve doesn't have any vultures. That has made it difficult to
impossible to locate any animal-kill made by the carnivores. We have been linking
the situation to the thick ground vegetation through which the vultures find it
impossible to locate carcass and thus have remained off the 2750 sq.km area of
the sanctuary.
Surveys outside the sanctuary, in the
transitional zone of the Similipal Biosphere Reserve and outside it have
indicated that vulture populations are on the decline.
Three species of vultures have been on record
from the periphery of Similipal. These are the Black or King Vulture (Sarcogyps
calvus), Indian White backed Vulture. (Gyps bengalensis) and
Indian Long-billed Vulture (Gyps i. indicus). All three have
become rare. This has been our own experience, and recently confirmed by a
survey conducted by the Bombay Natural History Society.
DISCUSSION
Vultures are on the decline : it
is a well realised fact. When I am asked about the reason for their decline, I
can see the niche having been taken over by human scavengers. Man is a
competitor with wildlife everywhere for everything, even for carcass. Man has
learnt to use the skin and bones of dead cattle and even dogs. That is one
reason why the city-outskirts or even the streets are easily swept clean of
carcasses. With human habitations growing all around, leaving little space for
vultures to survey and come down to ground, scavenging humans are perhaps doing
the right service. When ecosystems are turning into "human systems",
vultures have no other option but to give way to human system to 'prosper'.
Postscript (28 October 2021)
(1) I understand new vulture species have been added to Similipal (Mayurbhanj). Prominent is, the Cinereous Vulture, may be an accidental migrant.
(2) Today, attended as Chairperson a webinar session of Rewa Science College. The topic was on Vulture conservation in India, by Dr Anil Chhangani from Bikaner, Rajasthan. It was a very good talk, educative and eye-opening. Very few opinion may have gone for reasons for vulture decline, beyond diclofenac and nimesulide. But Dr Chhagani gave photo evidences of vulture deaths due to road accident, rail accident, cutting down of nesting trees (this was known), loss of water availability, and mining(!) etc.
(3) Medicines will not be a problem, if sufficient water is available, he said. Yes, right. In Chambal we made notes on vultures from 1983-2016 along with other large birds. Six species of vultures have been recorded. Egyptian Vulture the most abundant. The trend may get published next month in Journal of Threatened Taxa.
(4) Dr Sudhakar Kar mentioned about 1000s of vultures coming to Bhitarkanika in 1970s, and now none. I feel, the change in water characteristics (salinity), removal of carcasses (food of vulture) for man-run industries, growth of human population and village amenities and cleanliness, are some of the reasons.
It will be an interesting research topic to trace the history, fate and future of vulture in and around Bhitarkanika.
