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 19 July 2008 15:44 BST

Asian vultures 'face extinction in next decade'

Wednesday, 30 Apr 2008 00:01
White-backed vultures are in decline in India
Three species of vultures in Asia could be extinct within the next ten years unless action is taken to prevent their decline, conservationists say.

A report published today warns that the vultures' decline is quicker than that of any other wild bird, including the dodo.

Numbers of the Oriental white-backed vulture have fallen by 99.9 per cent in India since 1992 while the long-billed and slender-billed vultures together have fallen by almost 97 per cent during the same period.

It is estimated that numbers of Oriental white-backed vultures in India could now be down to 11,000 from tens of millions in the 1980s.

Populations of long-billed and slender-billed vultures have dropped to around 45,000 and 1,000 birds respectively.

The report claims that there could be just a few hundred birds of the three species left across India in the next decade.

Use of the anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac in livestock is fuelling the decline, the report says, as it can cause kidney failure in vultures.

The drug was outlawed in India in 2006 but conservationists say it remains widely available.

"It is imperative that [diclofenac] is removed completely from use in livestock without any further delay to avoid the extinction of the three vulture species," the report states in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society.

Conservationists add that it is also vital for more captive breeding centres to be built.

Dr Andrew Cunningham of the Zoological Society of London, principle investigator and co-author of the study, said: "These survey results show that imminent extinction looms for at least three species of vulture in India.

"Captive breeding is their last hope, so we are delighted that one of these species, the Oriental white-backed vulture, has successfully been bred this year in one of the captive breeding centres."

Co-author Dr Richard Cuthbert of the RSPB, added: "Time has almost run out to prevent the extinction of vultures in the wild in India.

"The ban on diclofenac manufacture was a good start but a ban on the sale of diclofenac and other drugs known to cause kidney failures in vultures is vital."
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