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Nepal builds 'restaurants' for vultures

Friday - 09th February 2007

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 07:42:01 GMT
Kathmandu, Feb 9 Developed countries have 'hotels' and haute couture for pampered pets. In Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world, bird lovers have begun a unique initiative to save the endangered vulture by building are staurants', Nepal's official media reported.

Once a common enough sight at garbage sites, the vulture began disappearing from South Asia due to the rising use of a veterinary drug administered to sick cattle.

The drug Diclofenac, used to treat diseases in cattle and cows, remains in the carcass. When vultures eat the meat, the drug causes kidney failure.

The killer drug is said to be responsible for 90 percent of the extermination of three vulture species in Nepal, India and Pakistan.

Though several governments, including Nepal, banned the drug after lobbying by wildlife activists, Diclofenac is still widely used in the Himalayan kingdom as it is cheaper than the new option available.

Concerned at the near-extermination of the once common bird, Nepal's oldest civil organisation fighting for the rights of birds, Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN), has started a unique initiative to build chemical-free feeding centres for the vulture, the Rising Nepal daily said.

The first vulture are staurant' runs at Kawasoti village in Nawalparasi district in western Nepal. BCN bought a plot of land to build a farm for old cattle nearing death.

The farm buys old and ill cattle from farmers, treats them with the new alternative to Diclofenac, a drug called Meloxicam, and when the animals meet their end, leave the carcasses in the open for vultures to feed on.

After establishing the Kawasoti feeding centre, BCN conducted a massive awareness campaign in the district. As farmers started sending old cows to the farm, it focused on building a new feeding centre.

The new are staurant' came up at Panchanagar village. With awareness about the harmful effects of Diclofenac spreading, the locals have come forward to run the new project.

Though BCN provided the seed money of Nepali Rs.50,000 to start the new farm, it is now being run by the villagers themselves.

BCN is eyeing three more districts that have large nesting colonies of vultures: Kanchanpur, Kapilavastu and Bardiya.


Source Earth Times