E-DRUG: diclofenac kills vultures
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The implications of the use of diclofenac as a painkiller for
livestock and the reduction in the population of vultures was
discussed in a BBC radio documentary on February 19. With the
reduction of vultures, carcasses are being consumed more and more by
wild dogs whose population is rising. A concurrent increase in the
incidence of rabies in other animals and in humans has been noted.
Beverley Snell
Centre for International Health
Macfarlane Burnet Institute for Medical Research and Public Health
Melbourne
Australia
bev@burnet.edu.au
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/4372783.stm
Published: 2005/03/22 16:30:44 GMT
India in effort to save vultures
The veterinary drug [diclofenac] blamed for killing South Asia's
vultures has been banned by the Indian government.
Conservationists say that the population of three species of Asian
vultures has fallen by 97% in 12 years, and they are now at risk of
extinction. The livestock painkiller diclofenac, consumed by
vultures when they eat a carcass, has been blamed for the fall.
Studies in India, Pakistan and Nepal have found extensive evidence of
diclofenac in dead vultures.
Captive breeding programmes
"The decline of three raptor species of vulture across South Asia has
been absolutely catastrophic," said Debbie Pain, head of
international research at the UK's Royal Society for the Protection
of Birds (RSPB).
"Even though diclofenac has now been banned, it will take some time
before the drug is removed from the food chain.
"It is essential that the authorities in India carry on with vulture
captive breeding programmes if several species of the bird are to
survive," she said.
Vultures have an important ecological role in the Asian environment,
where they have been relied upon for millennia to clean up and remove
dead livestock and even human corpses.
Dr Pain and other ornithologists have warmly welcomed the ban imposed
by the government, despite some initial scepticism in India that the
drug could be the cause of the birds' decline.
Vultures hold a critical position in the food chain and are renowned
for their ceaseless scavenging.
But their once-abundant numbers have been in decline for more than a decade.
In 1999, the Bombay Natural History Society noted a 97% drop in the
Oriental white-backed vulture ( Gyps bengalensis ) population at the
Keoladeo National Park in the state of Rajasthan.
Kidney failure
Today the bird is considered to be "critically endangered", as are
long-billed ( Gyps indicus ) and slender-billed ( Gyps tenuirostris )
vultures which have been through a similar decline. The decision to
ban diclofenac was taken last week during a meeting of the
government-affiliated National Board for Wildlife.
The decline of three raptor species of vulture across South Asia has
been absolutely catastrophic
Debbie Pain, RSPB
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh endorsed the board's
recommendation to phase out the veterinary use of the drug over the
next six months. Mr Singh said that he expected the ministries of
health and animal husbandry to promote options to replace the drug
such as ketoprofen and meloxicam. Both are believed to be less toxic
to vultures.
Last year, a study in the Journal of Applied Ecology showed how only
a little exposure is needed to knock back vulture numbers. The birds
succumb to kidney failure and visceral gout when they eat a dead
animal that has been treated with diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory
drug. Early signs that the raptors are affected can be seen from the
way they hang their heads down to their feet for long periods. The
link between the drug and the dramatic fall in raptor numbers was
established in 2004 by a US-led team.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/4372783.stm
Published: 2005/03/22 16:30:44 GMT
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/4372783.stm
Published: 2005/03/22 16:30:44 GMT