Vulture Awareness Day: Conservation efforts bearing good results in Pakistan

Documentary on Missing Vultures screened at Lahore Zoo

LAHORE: “Vultures are very important for the environment as they feed on carrion and act as ‘natural cleansers,’” WorldWide Fund for Nature (WWF)-Pakistan Communication Officer Syed Muhammad Abubakar said on Friday.

He was speaking to The Express Tribune at a stall that the WWF and Lahore Zoo had set up at the zoo to celebrate the International Vulture Awareness Day. The day is celebrated worldwide on September 5.

“The WWF has been working on increasing the number of vultures,” Abubakar said. “This is a difficult task. It is difficult to restore balance in the eco-system,” he said. A documentary, titled Missing Vultures, was also screened at the zoo. It was about the declining population of vultures in Changa Manga, which houses a Conservation Centre for the Gyps Vultures, a species found in South Asia.

“Earlier, we have held the activity in schools and colleges. This year, we decided to hold it at the zoo to reach out to more people,” Abubakar said. Vultures have been declared endangered species in South Asia. However, according to a survey the WWF carried out in Nagar Parkar, Sindh, the number of active nests of white-backed vultures has risen from 12 in 2011 to 31 in 2015. The number of active nests of long-billed vultures in the area has gone up from 172 to 183 during the same period. Active nests are those attended by the pairs of vultures along with their eggs or chicks.

No white-backed vultures were spotted in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) in 2011; 60 such birds were recorded in 2015. As many as 584 Egyptian vultures, which have also been declared endangered, were recorded in Nagar Parkar and 160 in the AJK.

The population of vultures in South Asia, including Pakistan, declined rapidly between 2000 and 2004 due to the use of diclofenac sodium, a painkiller administered to the livestock. The government in Pakistan had banned the medicine in 2006 following an extensive campaign by various international organisations, including the WWF. “It is still a challenge preventing the use of medicine because it is sold in the market under various names,” Abubakar said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5^th, 2015.