There’s hopeful news for the world’s disappearing vulture populations with the announcement of the first ever Vulture Safe Zone (VSZ) in Nepal. The often unloved scavengers perform a vital clean-up role in the natural world, helping prevent the spread of disease. But vulture numbers have taken a hammering in recent decades, with 90-99 per cent declines throughout Asia. This is largely due to the use of the anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac to treat cattle, whose carcasses then become deadly for vultures.
Nepal has bucked the trend with a slow recovery of vultures over the past five years. The use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), like diclofenac, is largely under control there and since 2009 conservationists, scientists, vets and local communities in the Gandaki-Lumbini region have been working together to create a provisional Vulture Safe Zone. In this area diclofenac is removed from veterinary use; wild populations are monitored, safe feeding sites established, and a breeding and release programme set up. No wild vultures have been killed by diclofenac since the VSZ was established. The approach can be extended to other provisional safe zones, with aims to certify more in Nepal and other countries in Asia and Africa – from India to Zambia.
