Conservation challenges of vultures continue in Nilgiris

OOTY: The first Saturday of September, observed as ‘International Vulture Awareness Day’, reminds mankind about conserving vultures, nature's own disposal squad which help keeps the environs clean. Dr.B.Ramakrishnan, Assistant Professor of Wildlife Biology and Zoology at the Government Arts College here, who is the principal investigator in a 10 year project on vulture biology in the Moyar valley in the Nilgiris, said that four species of vultures - the White-Rumped Vulture, Long-Billed Vulture, Red-headed Vulture which is commonly called the Asian King Vulture and the Egyptian vulture, all of which are critically endangered species, are found thriving in the Moyar valley. ‘Our observations showed that the White-Rumped Vulture and Long-Billed Vulture which are found in good numbers in Siriyur jungle hamlet in the Moyar valley have shifted their colony to Ebbanad jungles and also to Kupparakadavu limits near Siriyoor. Since the vulture feeds on the carcass of livestock and wild animals, the residues of diclofenac found in carcasses is said to affect the renal portal system of the vultures, resulting in their death.