A white-backed vulture

Mumbai, Jan. 8: Worried about the decline in the population of vultures, the Parsi community in Mumbai has welcomed the birth of the first white-backed vulture bred in captivity last week.

The chick was born on January 1 at the Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre jointly run by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and Haryana’s forest department at Pinjore.

The eggs, laid in November, hatched in 54 days, BNHS scientists said. “This is the most precious New Year gift from nature to vulture conservation efforts,” said Vibhu Prakash, principal scientist and head of the Vulture Conservation Breeding Programme in India.

BNHS director Asad Rahmani said: “We have achieved this success almost two years before target. We will now have to ensure that the ban on the killer drug diclofenac is effectively implemented by government agencies.”

Nine species of vultures have been recorded on the Indian subcontinent. Over the last decade, their population began declining rapidly, bringing nature’s most efficient scavenger to the brink of extinction. The decline was first noticed by the BNHS in 1998.

Scientists found that diclofenac, used as a painkiller in veterinary healthcare, was resulting in vulture deaths. The birds were exposed to the drug when they scavenged on carcasses of cattle treated with diclofenac before death.

Last year, following repeated appeals by the BNHS, state drug controllers were asked to phase out diclofenac within six months and drug companies were directed not to manufacture the drug.

The Bombay Parsi Panchayat has welcomed the news of the successful breeding. With the fall in the number of vultures, the Parsis had to rely on the use of solar concentrators at the Towers of Silence to perform last rites in accordance with Zoroastrian rituals.

“A beginning has already been made. Not only Parsis as a community will benefit from the development, but also the country. Vultures are very much required for speedy disposal of waste like carcasses,” the panchayat’s chief executive officer V.T. Dastoor said.