‘In Search of Vultures’ review: Nursing ‘sanitary workers’ of nature back to health
The Hindu
Tracing the story of the revival of vultures, who have become the centrepiece of a conservation campaign in Tamil Nadu
Shunned by many as symbols of death and ghoulish desolation, vultures could not really hope to be the centrepiece of a conservation campaign. Even deep mythological links in Hinduism, as in the Ramayana, have not staved off their precipitous decline over the decades in India.
Their importance to ecosystems has, however, been recognised and spurred a major conservation effort, with research scientists, forest officials, conservation agencies, non-governmental organisations and bird lovers across continents joining forces to raise their numbers.
One NGO behind the effort to save vultures based in Tamil Nadu, Arulagam, focuses on changing public attitudes towards these ‘sanitary workers’. It is this story of revival, of an often unloved group of birds found in the western mountains, gorges and valleys and neighbouring plains, that conservationist S. Bharathidasan narrates in his bilingual English-Tamil book, In Search of Vultures.
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