Oriental White-backed Vulture (Gyps bengalensis) and Long-billed Vulture (Gyps indicus)

If you have seen the white backed vulture please contact us Identification marks:Brownish black, naked head and neck, dirty white fur at the base of neck, back white in adults and white line under wings : more

PHOTO CREDIT: WWF-Pakistan /Shakeel Ahmed

There are a total nine species of vultures found in South Asia. Four of the Gyps vulture species are only found in Asia. These are Oriental White-backed Vulture (Gyps benegalensis), Long-billed vulture (Gyps indicus), Slender-billed Vulture (Gyps tenuirostris) and Himalayan Griffon Vulture (Gyps himalayensis). Eurasian Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus) breeds in Eurasia but migrates to Africa and South Asia. The geographic range of these vultures overlap (Pain et al 2003).

What We Are Doing Download Vulture feeding clip Vulture Feeding pictures Download Balochistan vulture survey report 2005 In April 2005 WWF-Pakistan conducted a baseline vulture population survey in eight Districts of Balochistan to ascertain if non-Gyps species are facing the similar threats as shown by Gyps vultures in Punjab province and rest of range state countries.

WWF – Pakistan arranged a workshop to save vultures from extinction WWF – Pakistan in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Environment and IUCN – Pakistan arranged a one day workshop on the Vulture Conservation at its Head Office on the 2nd September, 2004.more

What is WWF – Pakistan doing to save vultures from extinction? WWF – Pakistan developed a conservation plan to save the Oriental White-backed Vulture from extinction. It is working in close collaboration with the Punjab Wildlife and Parks Department to notify the area that is strong hold of this species at Toawala near Multan as a protected area. more

The Oriental White-backed Vulture (Gyps benegalensis) was once escribed as the commonest species of vulture found in the Indian sub-continent (Gilbert et al 2002). It was quoted as the most widely distributed species in Pakistan (Roberts 1991), occurring in provinces of Punjab, Sindh and North West Fortier Province (NWFP).

Studies conducted between 2000 and 2001 at two sites in the Punjab province of Pakistan also showed high mortality rates 11.4% and 18.6%. The necropsy of dead vultures showed that 80% of adults, 63% of sub-adults, 19% of juveniles and 13% of nestlings had visceral gout (Gilbert et al 2002) and this finding of consistent with the earlier reports from India (The Peregrine Fund 2000). The rate of decline in Pakistan was observed to be much higher than the conspecifics in India (The Peregrine Fund 2000). The trend of population decline was also obvious in other species of vultures; Long-billed vulture (Gyps indicus) and Slender-billed Vulture (Gyps tenuirostris), with status changed from ‘vulnerable’ to ‘critically endangered’ (The BirdLife International 2001).

Studies across 16 sites in Pakistan between 2000 and 2003 correlated visceral gout and renal failure with the presence of the residues of drug Diclonenac. The study conducted in controlled conditions affirmed these data gathered from the field (Oaks et al 2004). Diclofenac is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) which is commonly used in livestock in the Indian-subcontinent for the treatment of lameness, fever etc. It is cheap and widely available (Risebrough 2004).

Some rough estimates based on the rapid decline suggest that the population of oriental white-backed vultures might go extinct in as little as five years. South Asian countries have been really concerned about this rapid population decline and the involvement of international organisations has put immense pressure on the governments to urgently address this issue. A summit meeting entitled ‘A new environmental threat posed by the drug diclofenac’ was arranged in Kathmundu, Nepal. This summit brought together different organisations both from regional and international level

Vulture Pictures

that had been involved in the vulture conservation work such as WWF – Pakistan, Bird Conservation Nepal, BirdLife International, Bombay Natural History Society, Ornithological Society of Pakistan, Royal Society for Protection of Birds, The Peregrine Fund, Zoological Society of London also involving government representatives. The main objective of this summit is to come to a mutual agreement to deal with the vulture crisis. All parties agreed to a manifesto that suggests obtaining, holding and possibly breeding three Gyps species of vultures in captivity as a safety measure, until the threat of Diclofenac is removed from the environment.