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Vulture Safe Zones -- Gujarat India
The development and successful trial of vulture safe zones in Nepal has been duplicated in India with work lead by the BNHS and funded by the UK Government's Darwin Initiative focusing on protecting vultures in Gujarat State, in the west of India. Due to the presence of a large number of conservation organisations in Gujarat, an active network of BNHS volunteers and the continued presence of vultures this work was started in 2006 in order to try and retain the small populations of vultures within this state. Continued monitoring indicates that vultures are still declining in many areas, however pockets of resistance are to be found, particularly in and around Ahmedabad, Surat and Bhavnagar.
Gujarat is particularly important for vultures due to the presence of many cow and animal shelters (also known as Panjarapoles) that are run in this state. These sites take in many injured and abandoned cattle, particularly in times of drought, and can hold up to 10,000 cattle and buffalo! Traditionally any animals that died were placed out for vultures to feed upon and the very large numbers of livestock held meant that they were an important feeding site for vultures. These animal charities are dedicated to helping all animals, including vultures, hence they have been quick to stop the use of diclofenac due to the toxic effects of this drug on vultures. Instead of using diclofenac these charities are now only using meloxicam, the only NSAID that we know is of low toxicity to vultures and other scavenging birds.
The work within Gujarat has focused on the Panjarapoles but has also strived to work with pharmacies, veterinarians and farmers to ensure that the message about diclofenac is taken up. Along with detailed monitoring of remaining vulture numbers and tackling other issues that are harmful to vultures (including entanglement with kite strings during the large kite festivals in the state) work in Gujarat is taking the necessary steps to speed up the removal of diclofenac from the state. Hopefully the animal charities will remain important sites for vulture conservation throughout Gujarat and help numbers to recover in the future once diclofenac and other toxic drugs are eliminated from the system.
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