Casualty of about 21 vultures of the Himalayan Griffon species that belonged to the endangered category of the avian species, in Jaspur area of Udham Singh Nagar, has come as a matter of serious concern.
The fact is that out of the 21 Himalayan Griffons which died, four were sent to the veterinary clinic of the Nainital zoo for treatment on the pretext that they must be alive, have now also been found dead. “We even did not accept the four Himalayan Griffon vultures because they were already dead,” said Manoj Shah, Range Officer of the Nainital zoo, while talking to The Pioneer.
“As it was a public holiday on Monday we could not return the dead vultures that day. Therefore, we are going to return the bodies of the dead Himalayan Griffons to the forest officials concerned of the Jaspur forest area now,” he added.
The Jaspur forest area is part of the Terai-west forest division. It seems the dead vultures consumed flesh of a dead animal laying beside the recovery site of the aforesaid dead Himalayan Griffons and some poisonous substance in the form of painkiller from the dead animal’s body also became part of their intake which led to the premature death of these endangered species of the Himalayan Griffon family, the Nainital Zoo Range Officer further said.
However, the exact cause of death of these Himalayan Griffons would be ascertained only after coming of the medical report in this regard, maintained the officials concerned. The aforesaid matter came to light only when the locals brought it to the notice of the officials concerned of the
Terai-west forest division.
The fact is that presence of the endangered wildlife species like the Himalayan Griffon in the Terai region of Uttarakhand, is not unusual. Most of the times, the wild inhabitants of the upper Himalayan regions reach the plains of Terai landscape and other parts of the hill state in search of food.
Sighting of some vultures of the same Himalayan Griffon species near the Nepal border along the Terai landscape a few days ago came as a huge encouragement for the wildlife lovers as they informed. Besides, presence of these wildlife species is also good for maintaining ecosystem. However, death of the endangered species of the same family has come as a major disappointment for the wildlife lovers. Movements of the endangered wildlife species like Himalayan Griffon in search of food from upper Himalayan region to different parts of Uttarakhand particularly in plains has come as a major reason behind death of these vultures as the wildlife experts here observe.
Because, they add, unlike the remote areas of the hill state, use of different kind of medicines for health care of domestic animals is maximum in plains and Terai region. So the consumption of these modern medicines treated animal corpses only leads to death of the innocent endangered species. Among the medicines, use of banned drug substance i.e. diclofenac (human version) has been a serious threat to the wildlife species like vulture, as the wildlife experts maintain here.
Stray incidents of death of vultures including Himalayan Griffon and Indian white backed vulture due to consumption of medicines like diclofenac treated dead animal bodies is common in this region. However, nothing concrete has been done by the forest department and for that matter by the government, to discourage use of diclofenac and other forms of medicines for prevention of wildlife casualties as have been reported from Jaspur, except rhetoric.