India’s Vulture Population Has Plummeted from 40 Million to 60,000 - Poisoned by Drug Diclofenac
Three species of Gyps vulture are in danger of extinction - poisoned by the use of diclofenac in livestock. India, Nepal, and Pakistan have lost 95% of their vulture populations.
As recently as the early 1980’s, there were approximately 40 million vultures in India, comprised of nine species. Now there are only 60,000 of these important scavengers left. Captive breeding efforts are in progress, the last hope of saving these birds from extinction.
The alarming population decline was first observed In the late 1990’s by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), in a breeding colony of White-backed Vultures in Keoladeo National park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan.
By 2000, there were no breeding pairs left.
