Vulture conservation campaign in Uttarakhand

Ramnagar (Uttarakhand), Oct.15 (ANI): The Jim Corbett Vulture Conservation organization educated the people on the importance of vultures to the environment through the 'Ramleela' in Uttarakhand's Ramnagar District.

During the 'Ramleela', the organization connected the campaign with the mythical vulture Jatayu, who had informed Lord Ram of his wife's kidnapping in the 'Ramayan'.

Films on wildlife and vulture conservation were also shown, while researchers distributed pamphlets.

"The situation in India is reaching a crucial point now because now it has been at least five years since over 99 percent of vultures have disappeared, in terms of possible pandemic disease spreading," said Oliver Gray, a vulture conservationist from the United Kingdom.

"Now it is reaching a crucial point where the state of population has increased so much, and it is already starting to register scary statistics in terms of the health costs to India," he added.

The organization also pointed out the ill effects of drugs that killed vultures.

"You know, we are trying to tell people that the drug that has killed the vultures, Diclofenac, which was used for veterinary purposes, which is banned but there is an alternative and a very cheap alternate which is the human diclofenac, which is quite rampantly used in this area and our awareness is about that," said Sumanta Ghosh, director of Corbett Vulture Conservation organization.

Vultures eat the carcasses of livestock that have been administered veterinary diclofenac, and are poisoned by the accumulated chemical.

The use of diclofenac in animals has been reported to a sharp decline in the vulture population in the Indian subcontinent.

The organization has urged the dairy owners to stop using the hazardous chemical so that the extinction of the bird could be prevented. By Vipul Goel (ANI)