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(From left) Toby Galligon, Mandar D Kulkarni, Mohammad Raziuddin and Satya Prakash at Hazaribagh Wildlife Sanctuary on Sunday. Picture by Vishvendu Jaipuriar
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Hazaribagh on Sunday hosted two distinguished bird experts, one of them from the UK, who offered valuable advice on developing a safe vulture zone in the region.
Toby Galligon, a bird scientist associated with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, London, and centre manager of vulture breeding centre at Pinjore, Haryana, Mandar D. Kulkarni visited several spots where vultures are known to be present as well as Hazaribagh Wildlife Sanctuary. Both stressed on the need to turn Hazaribagh into a diclofenac-free zone.
Scientists tracking the decline in vultures have attributed it to diclofenac, a common painkiller. They argue that vultures get exposed to toxic levels of diclofenac when they feed on carcasses of livestock that have died within a few days of treatment. An NGO, Neo Foundation, which works for protection of wildlife in the district, has embarked on a project to make 100km in and around Hazaribagh free of diclofenac.
“Four places have been selected in India for making them safe havens for vultures, a fast declining bird. They are Hazaribagh, Lakhimpur and Bahraich, both in Uttar Pradesh, and a place in Assam. The plan is to release vultures after breeding them in these places by 2016,” Kulkarni said.
About Hazaribagh, he said that the campaign to make the place fit for hosting the scavenger was yielding positive results with the bird count crossing 100.
Galligon, on the other hand, said that diclofenac needed to be completely banned. “Although the Indian government has banned diclofenac for animal use, human beings still depend on it,” he added.
Satya Prakash of Neo Foundation who assisted Galligan and Mandar said they had been urging all, right from veterinary doctors to rural practitioners, to avoid using diclofenac.
“Instead, meloxicam is a safe medicine and we have distributed some, supplied by the forest department, among veterinary doctors,” said the zoology teacher of Vinoba Bhave University.
This was Galligan and Mandar’s second visit to Hazaribagh. They will return on Monday.
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