Study highlights lack of awareness about vulture conservation in Mudumalai and Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserves in T.N.

Study highlights lack of vulture conservation awareness in key habitats, emphasizing need for education and protection efforts.

A study on the awareness of vulture conservation across the species’ key habitats in Mudumalai (MTR) and Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserves (STR), has shown that communities living in the region have yet to fully realise “vulture-safe” practices in raising livestock and the importance of the birds to the region. The lack of awareness could potentially pose a risk to the survival of the species, argue researchers.

In a paper published recently in the Journal of Threatened Taxa, titled, ‘Harmonizing ecology and society: an integrated analysis of vulture conservation in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, India,’ researchers S. Manigandan, H. Byju and P. Kannan, undertook covert surveys in 82 veterinary pharmacies in four districts across the region – The Nilgiris, Erode, Coimbatore and Tiruppur, and conducted random surveys among 20 villages in the two tiger reserves, trying to ascertain the level of awareness among communities about the threats facing the four species of vultures commonly seen in the region.

Three of the four species – the white-rumped vulture, the long-billed vulture and the Asian king vulture, are resident to the landscape and are known to nest and breed within the two reserves, while the Egyptian vulture is believed to be a migratory species.

The researchers, during their covert surveys of veterinary pharmacies in the region learned that while the 82 pharmacies did not sell large veterinary-dose vials of diclofenac, the harmful Non-Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drug (NSAID) that is largely believed to have caused a crash in the vulture populations across India over the last few decades, smaller doses for human usage were sold in three shops. More concerning however was that other NSAIDs harmful to vultures such as Ketoprofen, Aceclofenac and Nimesulide were still available in these veterinary pharmacies.

“There is a distinct lack of awareness about NSAIDs across the board, including diclofenac,” said researcher S. Manigandan, one of the authors of the paper. He explained that the availability of smaller vials of the drug meant for human use in pharmacies hinted at the probability of the drug being sold in smaller doses for use in cattle as well. “Multiple smaller vials can be bought and used together for treating cattle,” said Mr. Manigamdam.

Surveys conducted among local residents in the 20 villages showed that Adivasi communities had more knowledge about vulture conservation, especially in MTR, while there was a distinct lack of knowledge about the need for vulture conservation and the reasons for the species’ drastic reduction among the eight villages in Sathyamangalam, the researchers noted. Awareness about vulture conservation was also low in three villages in MTR, researchers found, including Bokkapuram, Chemmanatham and Thengumarahada.

In a statement, S. Manigandan, said while many awareness programmes are conducted on vulture conservation in the two tiger reserves, that these campaigns have not seemingly significantly altered public perception towards ensuring the protection of vultures. The researchers suggested ensuring timely and immediate compensation to cattle herders in case of predation by carnivores to help protect vultures by preventing retaliatory poisoning.