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Topic: IUCN Vulture Resolutions IUCN 保育印度兀鷲的決議 (Read 4166 times) |
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IUCN Vulture Resolutions IUCN 保育印度兀鷲的決議
« on: Dec 9th, 2004, 9:00am » |
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An interesting message about vultures in India extracted from Oriental Bird Club e-mail group. Share with members.
----- Original Message -----
From: "R.W. Risebrough"
Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2004 1:36 AM
Subject: [OB] IUCN Vulture Resolutions
Following are some comments on the IUCN Vulture Resolutions that were circulated by Chris Bowden of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds to the Vulture Conservation and Oriental Birding discussion groups on November 30. We are indebted to him for making these resolutions more widely available.
The production of these resolutions is a major accomplishment, but it does provoke further thinking about the relative importance of the several priorities, both the immediate and longer-term.
It was possible to achieve a rapid phase-out of DDT in the USA because adequate substitutes were available for almost all uses. This is not true for diclofenac. Valuable research looking for potential alternatives is underway, sponsored by RSPB, but surely a more massive and intensive effort is required to find "an appropriate risk-free substitute" within the shortest possible time.
Resolution 1 reads: "CALLS on Gyps Vulture range states to begin action immediately to prevent all uses of Diclofenac in veterinary applications that allow Diclofenac to be present in carcasses of domestic livestock available as food for vultures".
Implementation of this resolution requires, however, the availability of a substitute medicine. Among the potential substitutes proposed by the Indian pharmaceutical industry at a meeting in Delhi earlier this year were ketoprofen and carprofen, drugs that act on the same enzyme system as does diclofenac. Yet a combination of these killed an African white-backed vulture at the San Diego Zoo in early 2003, producing the visceral gout that has been characteristic of the mortalities in the Subcontinent; all of the drugs acting on this enzyme system, including meloxicam which is a potential substitute, have the potential to cause kidney damage, a critical factor being dosage. A companion resolution might therefore have been included, reading something like: 'CALLS on all parties to support efforts to test the toxicity to vultures of potential substitutes for diclofenac, at dosages that would be used in veterinary medicine, such that Resolution 1 might be implemented at the earliest possible time.'
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Re: IUCN Vulture Resolutions
« Reply #1 on: Dec 9th, 2004, 9:01am » |
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By starting with low, sublethal, doses of the drugs and measuring uric acid levels in the blood, which increase in response to the effects of the drugs on the kidney, toxicity tests can be undertaken without killing any birds. Needed are more African white-backed vultures, which could be released back into the wild once the testing is finished.
It is unfortunate that the resolutions place so much importance on the banning of diclofenac at the expense of another, even more pressing priority: the preservation of adequate genetic diversity of each of the three species.
All available information indicates that the high rate of population decline is continuing in each species, - to be expected as long as the cause of the population decline over 1997-2002 continues to be present in the environment. The only qualification that can now be attached to the diclofenac hypothesis is that other drugs used as veterinary medicines that act on the same enzyme system are likely to have been killing vultures, including analgin which was already in use at the time diclofenac was introduced around 1994.
Nineteen long-billed vultures are now being kept at the Vulture Care Facility operated by the Bombay Natural History Society in Pinjore, Haryana. Apparently these are the only members of their species currently being protected in captivity anywhere in the world. Although several other species, including the California condor, the whooping crane, and the northern elephant seal were once reduced to comparably low numbers and have since increased, 19 birds represent only a portion of the total genetic diversity of a species that has occupied a large area of central India and a small area of southeast Pakistan.
Twenty one white-backed vultures are now at the Haryana facility; several more are in Indian zoos, 4 are in the Dhaka Zoo in Bangladesh, and a few are in European zoos. The genetic diversity of this species is therefore marginally better preserved, but some of these birds may be imprinted on people and unlikely to breed with members of their own species. As the populations decline, birds become increasingly difficult to locate and, because of the abundance of food, increasingly difficult to trap.
The sponsorship of these IUCN resolutions by the Ministry of Environment and Forests of the Indian Central Government is a most welcome development. Until now the seriousness of the situation has not been widely recognized; the Ministry has consequently refused all requests to capture any of the increasingly fewer birds in the wild. The situation is particularly critical for the slender-billed vulture. A remnant population survives in northern Cambodia, but it now appears that the genetic diversity of this species across northern India, in Assam, and in Bangladesh may soon be entirely lost. No birds that would preserve at least some of their irreplaceable gene pool are in captivity. A few years ago they were abundant in Corbett and Kaziranga National Parks; now, most visitors, including active birdwatchers looking for them, see none. Total extinction in the wild within 2-3 years is now increasingly likely.
With the support of the Division of International Conservation of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, The Rhino Foundation for Nature in North-east India is undertaking a survey for remaining slender-billed and white-backed vultures in Assam. It is now the beginning of the nesting season. The Government of the State of Assam strongly supports a program that would capture at least some of the surviving birds, particularly of young about to fledge. But to date the Ministry of Environment and Forests in Delhi has not responded to requests for capture permits.
The lofty language of the IUCN resolutions is appropriate, but a simple decision this week by the Ministry would accomplish the highest priorities - to ensure both the survival of adequate genetic diversity of all three affected species in the Indian Subcontinent and the survival of the species themselves. Finding a substitute for diclofenac, ending its uses, and the implementation of captive breeding programs are different priorities, to be carried out with different time constraints.
Since Dr. Rahmani of the Bombay Natural History Society issued a National Vulture Alert in 1998, there has been a series of reports of observations of vultures, usually with an implied conclusion that populations are healthy.
Most recent are reports from Gujarat. But data on numbers of nests at the beginning of a season and of the numbers of young that are fledged are very few; all indicate a high mortality rate that will not sustain the populations. Reports of slender-billed vultures - once so numerous in Assam and what is now Bangladesh - have just about stopped.
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Re: IUCN Vulture Resolutions
« Reply #2 on: Dec 9th, 2004, 9:01am » |
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Ending the uses of diclofenac and related drugs as veterinary medicines, the testing of potential substitutes and their introduction into the market, and the development and implementation of national vulture recovery plans are processes that would require substantial amounts of time in any country or region of the world. In the world's largest democracy they will inevitably take longer. The extinction of these species in the wild is also a process that will be completed after a certain time interval, perhaps as low as 2-3 years. Which will happen first? All bets are off. There are too many uncertainties. But the possibility of complete extinction in the wild of one, two or all three species is highly likely; whatever they are, the probabilities of extinction in the wild before a ban on diclofenac is fully implemented are too high to be ignored in any responsible conservation policy. The birds can no longer be saved if they are all gone.
Of the world's bureaucracies, surely some in India are among those most resistant to change - and particularly to suggestions from outside. But resolutions from a prestigious international organization such as IUCN come with the full authority of the global scientific and conservation communities. Moreover, the specific suggestions advanced here have all originated in India. They are hardly an interference into someone else's affairs. The present situation has no precedents. Given all available information and a balanced interpretation of its signficance, even the most conservative of bureaucracies may respond to an issue of such great
importance to all of the Subcontinent, an issue that increasingly is the object of global attention.
Some months ago I also received a draft of the IUCN resolutions for comments and suggestions. Nothing more seemed necessary at the time. It's just that the issue has come into greater focus, in part because of the timely appearance of these resolutions.
Bob Risebrough
Berkeley California
8 December 2004
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Carrie Ma
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Re: IUCN Vulture Resolutions IUCN 保育印度兀鷲的決
« Reply #5 on: Feb 3rd, 2006, 11:11am » |
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More news on vultures
Sources of information: http://www.birdlife.org/news/pr/2006/01/vulture_update.html
Ray of hope for vultures facing extinction
31-01-2006
Today saw a glimmer of hope for the three species of Asian vulture threatened with extinction.
Slender-billed Gyps tenuirostris, Indian G. indicus and White-rumped Vultures G. bengalensis in South Asia have suffered one of the most rapid and widespread population declines of any bird species, declining by more than 97 per cent over the last 10-15 years.
These declines were caused by the widespread veterinary use of the drug diclofenac for the treatment of sick domestic livestock throughout the Indian subcontinent. Diclofenac kills vultures that feed on the bodies of livestock that have been given the drug shortly before death.
To combat diclofenac's devastating effects on vulture populations, the Indian government announced, in March 2005, its intention to phase out the use of the drug. However, progress has been hampered by the lack of an alternative drug that is known to be safe for vultures yet effective for treating livestock.
In a new report published in the open access journal PLoS Biology, a team of scientists from South Africa, Namibia, India and the UK concluded that such an alternative has now been found.
The team, led by Gerry Swan of the University of Pretoria, found that the drug meloxicam was safe to vultures at the likely range of levels they would be exposed to in the wild. Meloxicam, which is similar to diclofenac in its effectiveness for treating livestock, has recently become available for veterinary use in India and could easily be used in place of diclofenac.
"This research is an excellent example of international collaboration in response to an urgent conservation problem," Said Dr Debbie Pain, Head of International Research at the RSPB and a co-author of the paper.
Fellow-author Dr Rhys Green, Principal Research Biologist at the RSPB and a scientist at Cambridge University, said: "Dr Lindsay Oaks discovered that diclofenac is the cause of the vulture declines just two years ago, so having found a practical solution so quickly is encouraging. Even so, vulture populations are declining so fast that it could still be too late to save them unless action is taken immediately."
Publication of these results is very timely because the government of India today convened a two-day international meeting to decide how to save the endangered vultures. Removal of diclofenac from their food supply is a vital step, so the identification of an alternative drug may have come just in time.
Dr Asad Rahmani, Director of the Bombay Natural History Society said: "It is essential that the government of India acts quickly to make good use of this new information. Diclofenac must be replaced by meloxicam as soon as possible and there are many things that government can do to speed this up."
The vulture declines have had profound ecological and social consequences. Vultures play a vital role in environmental health by disposing of carcasses and reducing the risk of disease.
The two key steps necessary to save vultures from extinction are removal of diclofenac from their food chain, and the establishment of conservation centres for captive breeding as a stop-gap measure until that is achieved.
"It is essential that the environment is free of diclofenac before vultures from conservation breeding centres can be released into the wild," said RSPB Research Biologist Dr Richard Cuthbert, who co-ordinated the new research. "In view of these findings, there is now no reason for governments to delay in banning the veterinary use of diclofenac."
ENDS
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Carrie Ma
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Re: IUCN Vulture Resolutions IUCN 保育印度兀鷲的決
« Reply #6 on: Feb 3rd, 2006, 11:17am » |
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More news:
Source of information: http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2006/02/vulture_update.html
BirdLife hopeful of diclofenac ban
01-02-2006
BirdLife is hopeful that the drug blamed for the deaths of millions of south Asian vultures will soon be banned in India and elsewhere.
The three species of vulture have died after ingesting the drug diclofenac, which is used as an anti-inflammatory treatment for livestock. Vultures are nature cleaners in south Asia and ingest the drug when eating carcass flesh. At a two-day meeting finishing today, the Indian government opted to await the results of final tests on the proposed replacement, meloxicam, which are due next week, but BirdLife is optimistic that a ban will follow.
BirdLife and a number of its Partners were among the organisations to identify diclofenac as the cause of the problem and later helped establish that meloxicam was a viable replacement. Tests so far have found that meloxicam does not harm vultures, or other birds, and is an effective livestock treatment.
Chris Bowden, who heads the vulture conservation programme at the RSPB (BirdLife in the UK) said, "I am convinced that diclofenac will be banned in India this year and possibly within the next six months. Without a ban, Asian vultures will become extinct. That would be a tragedy not just for the birds but for the thousands / millions of people for whom vultures are crucial to health, livelihood and religion."
Two Indian ministries are key to the decision to ban diclofenac. Shri Namo Narain Meena, Minister of Environment and Forests said at the meeting in Delhi, "The most important step to save the vultures, as I understand it, is the complete ban on the veterinary formulation of the drug diclofenac."
But the Agriculture Ministry, which will make the final decision, has insisted on the last meloxicam tests. Dr Asad Rahmani, Director of Bombay Natural History Society added, "The Ministry of Environment and Forests is fully behind the need for a ban. However our Agriculture Ministry appears to be the main delay to saving vultures from extinction."
The Indian government has however sanctioned a nationwide census of vultures to establish how many remain. Slender-billed Gyps tenuirostris, Indian G. indicus and White-rumped Vultures G. bengalensis in South Asia have suffered one of the most rapid and widespread population declines of any bird species, declining by more than 97 per cent over the last 10-15 years.
Chris Bowden added, "The census will find the remaining pockets of vulture populations so that when diclofenac is banned, it will be much easier to target the areas in which it must be removed most quickly.
"Meloxicam is already available in India but is slightly more expensive than diclofenac and not so widely available. Incentives from the government to encourage more companies to produce the drug, so reducing its cost, would be invaluable in ensuring vultures survive."
BirdLife is leading work to establish breeding centres for vultures so that a captive population can be established and released when diclofenac is no longer used. Two centres are now taking vultures and it is hoped to set up another four.
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Re: IUCN Vulture Resolutions IUCN 保育印度兀鷲的決
« Reply #7 on: Mar 1st, 2006, 8:33am » |
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Rarest vultures join breeding programme
28-02-2006
Source of information: http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2006/02/slender-billed_vulture.html
The first Slender-billed Vultures have been taken into the Indian vulture conservation breeding centres run by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS, BirdLife in India) and the RSPB (BirdLife in the UK).
The Slender-billed Vulture Gyps tenuirostris is the rarest of the three species whose populations have been decimated by the veterinary drug diclofenac. Although a new alternative, meloxicam, that is not harmful to vultures has been identified, two captive breeding centres have been set up in the meantime. Vultures and their offspring will be housed at Pinjore, Haryana, and at Rajabhatkhawa, outside the Buxa Tiger Reserve in West Bengal. When the environment is diclofenac-free they will be reintroduced to the wild. Pinjore is supported by the UK Government's Darwin Initiative, with the RSPB helping to fund the Rajabhatkhawa centre.
So far 18 Slender-billed Vultures including 16 sub-adults and two juveniles, have been caught in Assam by BNHS trappers. 14 birds have been flown to the Pinjore centre and four birds are being kept in the newly-built quarantine aviaries at the Rajabhatkhawa Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre. Sachin Ranade of Bombay Natural History Society, who is in charge of the centre, commented, "The Slender-billed Vulture is the rarest species and nobody before us has ever attempted captive breeding of these vultures anywhere in the world."
Over the coming months it is planned to house up to 25 pairs of Slender-billed Vulture at Rajabhatkhawa, along with similar numbers of Indian Gyps indicus and White-rumped Vultures G. bengalensis. These two species are already housed in good numbers at Pinjore.
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Re: IUCN Vulture Resolutions IUCN 保育印度兀鷲的決
« Reply #8 on: Jun 25th, 2006, 9:03pm » |
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22/5/06 BirdLife International
India bans production and sale of vulture death drug
The Indian government has taken the crucial first step in reversing the plunge to extinction of three vulture species, by ordering a halt to the production and sale of the veterinary drug diclofenac within three months.
...
Studies have found that to cause vultures to decline at their current rate, less than one per cent of livestock carcasses need to contain lethal levels of diclofenac. Yet samples from across India indicate that 10 per cent of carcasses are contaminated with the drug.
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