FEATURE - Virus pushes India vultures to verge of extinction

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FEATURE - Virus pushes India vultures to verge of extinction

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INDIA: May 20, 2003

 

 

PINJORE, India - A decade ago, vultures were almost as common as sparrows in

India.

 

 

 

Their screeching, as they ripped into animal carcasses, could be heard in

cities across the vast South Asian country.

 

But a mystery virus has changed that and, one expert says, threatens to push

the gawky black birds to the brink of extinction.

 

In 10 years, India has lost more than 95 percent of its vulture population.

 

" Their decline has been truly dramatic. At one time, there were tens of

thousands of vultures in India, " Vibhu Prakash, a specialist in birds of

prey at the Bombay Natural History Society, told Reuters.

 

" Today, they are a threatened species. They are down to just a few thousands

which is very unusual because vultures are very hardy creatures who can live

on petrified carcasses. "

 

Vultures, while they may be really low in the pecking order as far as beauty

is concerned, are considered sacred by many in the world's second most

populous nation.

 

The dramatic drop in the population has created a crisis for the country's

Parsi community, which leaves its dead in stone towers to be eaten by

vultures because its religion forbids burial and cremation.

 

Parsis or Zoroastrians regard fire, earth and water as sacred and believe

the vulture helps release the spirits of their ancestors.

 

CITY SCAVENGERS

 

In Bombay, home to one of the country's largest Parsi populations, the

community has installed solar panels at the Towers of Silence to use the

sun's rays to dispose of their dead.

 

" They are also thinking of enclosing the Towers of Silence with captive

vultures, " says Prakash.

 

Vultures are also considered sacred in Hindu mythology because, according to

legend, the bird died while trying to rescue Sita, the wife of Hindu

god-king Ram.

 

Religious considerations aside, ornithologists and environmentalists say the

dramatic drop in their numbers has enormous implications for the ecosystem

across the globe.

 

Vultures play a key role in keeping cities clean because they eat animal

carcasses in a country with few resources to dispose of corpses. Without

them, the bodies could pile up, leading to anthrax and other diseases, some

experts say.

 

" Vultures perform a vital function as scavengers, " says R.D. Jakati, chief

wildlife warden in the northern state of Haryana, which has seen a sudden

fall in its vulture population.

 

" The drop in the number of vultures has led to an increase in the stray dog

population which could lead to a rise in the incidence of rabies. "

 

The crisis began about 15 years ago when Prakash noticed a group of vultures

on a tree in a bird sanctuary in northern India with their heads limp and

their beaks down by their bellies.

 

A few days later, the birds had died. Tests showed the birds showed signs of

visceral gout caused by degeneration of the kidneys. " That's when we began

investigating the phenomenon and discovered the vultures were not victims of

pesticide poisoning or a loss of habitat, " Prakash says.

 

MYSTERY VIRUS

 

" A series of tests showed the birds were suffering from a virus but it's a

completely new strain which we can't identify. "

 

Experts say they fear the mystery virus - which has struck the Gyps species

of vultures - could spread to other parts of the world such as Central Asia

and Africa because of the migratory patterns of the birds.

 

" Birds are the first ones to get infected and what happens to them is an

indicator of what's to come, " says Prakash, pointing to a suspected jump

from the animal kingdom that seems to have brought the latest killer virus,

SARS, into the human population.

 

Alarmed at the decline in the vulture population, the Indian government has

teamed up with Britain to set up a vulture care centre in Pinjore in

Haryana.

 

Tucked away in a forest in Pinjore, the tiny centre cares for sick vultures

and monitors their condition through regular blood and weight checks to try

and identify the mystery virus.

 

Four birds are in quarantine and six recovering vultures have been housed in

a row of enormous cages at the centre funded by the Darwin Initiative, a

British government grant scheme.

 

" Unless something is found, these birds could be extinct in five years, "

says Prakash, standing amid a row of test tubes and high-tech lab equipment

in a tiny room at the centre.

 

" And if the vultures disappear, there can be disease epidemics which can

affect humans, " he adds.

 

 

Story by Sugita Katyal