A recent study confirms alarming declines in raptor populations in Kenya. Incidental poisoning is a major problem for vultures in particular, depriving ecosystems of the birds’ vital role as scavengers. Conservationists are working with communities to help species recover. “The population of raptors today bears no resemblance to those numbers we saw a half century […]
Tag: diclofenac
Conservation win for Bangladesh as efforts to halt vulture decline pay off
Vultures were a common sight across the Indian subcontinent until the late 1980s. But the excessive use of some veterinary drugs for cattle, which are toxic to the scavengers, and loss of habitat, led to a drastic fall in vulture numbers in the wild. By 2017, some species’ populations had fallen by 95%. However, in […]
Born to be wild: India’s first captive-bred endangered vultures set free
In February, the doors of an aviary in West Bengal’s Buxa tiger reserve were flung open. Eight critically endangered captive-bred white-rumped vultures cautiously emerged and within minutes were mingling with wild vultures, devouring the meat of carcasses left out by a team of researchers from the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS). The birds were raised […]
Diclofenac claims first official victim in Europe: the Cinereous Vulture
A Cinerous Vulture Aegypius monachus born in 2020 in the Boumort National Hunting Reserve has now been confirmed as the first victim of a vulture species to die from poisoning by veterinary diclofenac in Europe. The cause of death of this vulture was confirmed in a new study which came out on April 5th, at […]
The big moment: Nepal releases its first ever captive-reared vultures
Watch as conservation history is made: six captive-reared Critically Endangered White-rumped Vultures venture out into the wild. This comes at a time when the world is finally waking up to the plight of vultures. The moment has finally arrived. Bait is placed outside the entrance of the pre-release aviary, and the door is opened from […]
After the crash: how can we rebuild South Asia’s vulture population?
Asian vultures have undergone a catastrophic decline in recent decades, with populations crashing by as much as 99%. In India and Nepal, four of nine vulture species are Critically Endangered, largely as a result of poisoning by a drug commonly used to treat livestock, diclofenac. Since 2006, diclofenac has been banned in these countries for […]
POLL: Should veterinary Diclofenac be banned to save vultures?
Vultures are declining world-wide, but Europe used to be a safe place. 3 years ago this changed radically when approval was given to the commercialisation of veterinary diclofenac. Today, we launch a new international campaign in Spain, Portugal and Italy that aims to ban the drug that could wipe out Europe’s vultures… just as it […]
Can we bring vultures back to Thailand?
It’s the most dramatic bird decline ever recorded – faster even than those that robbed our planet of the Passenger Pigeon Ectopistes migratorius or the Dodo Raphus cucullatus. Since the 1990s, a staggering 99% of the vulture population in Asia have disappeared – a drop from several million to just a few thousand. As a […]