page_title: Indian vulture crisis
hierarchical_section_title: Indian vulture crisis
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph by Shantanu Kuveskar Location&#160;: Mangaon, Raigad, Maharashtra, Inda
context_page_description: Nine species of vulture can be found living in India, but most are now in danger of extinction after a rapid and major population collapse in recent decades. As recently as the 1980s there were up to 80 million white-rumped vultures in India, but today the population numbers only several thousand.
  Population of three Gyps vultures in South Asia decreased by about 95% in the 1990s. A major contributing factor in declining populations of vultures is believed to be widespread use of drugs such as diclofenac, once commonly used as a livestock anti-inflammatory drug. Usage of diclofenac is banned in India. The IUCN Red Data Book has listed Gyps bengalensis as "critically endangered". In winter 2012, 56 vultures in three species and 10 steppe eagles were found dead at Jorbeer dumping site. Six Eurasian griffons were found dead in May 2013 due to dehydration and wing weakness. The area has been declared as a conserved forest area, but the dead animal dumping site is not part of the protected area.
  The dramatic vulture decline observed across India presents a range of ecological threats, by influencing the numbers and distribution of other scavenging species.
context_section_description: Nine species of vulture can be found living in India, but most are now in danger of extinction after a rapid and major population collapse in recent decades. As recently as the 1980s there were up to 80 million white-rumped vultures (Gyps bengalensis) in India, but today the population numbers only several thousand.
  Population of three Gyps vultures in South Asia decreased by about 95% in the 1990s. A major contributing factor in declining populations of vultures is believed to be widespread use of drugs such as diclofenac, once commonly used as a livestock anti-inflammatory drug. Usage of diclofenac is banned in India. The IUCN Red Data Book has listed Gyps bengalensis as "critically endangered". In winter 2012, 56 vultures in three species (Eurasian griffon, cinereous vulture, Egyptian vulture) and 10 steppe eagles were found dead at Jorbeer dumping site. Six Eurasian griffons were found dead in May 2013 due to dehydration and wing weakness. The area has been declared as a conserved forest area, but the dead animal dumping site is not part of the protected area. 
  The dramatic vulture decline observed across India presents a range of ecological threats, by influencing the numbers and distribution of other scavenging species. Increased feral dog populations have been reported all over in India, posing many associated disease risks such as rabies to humans and wildlife. India already accounts for a very high incidence of rabies cases, and an absolute shortage of quality anti-rabies vaccine in rural areas can aggravate the problem even further. Similarly, increased crow populations at carcass sites near settlement areas pose a risk of infections to poultry, domesticated birds, and humans. Prevalence and concentration of diclofenac residues in ungulate carcasses is important for India's threatened vulture populations. A small proportion (< 0.8%) of ungulate carcasses containing lethal levels of diclofenac is enough to cause the observed rapid decline of vultures population. (Bohra D L)
  Vultures previously played an important role in public sanitation in India and their disappearance has resulted in a number of problems, and as such numerous conservation schemes are in place to assist in the recovery of vulture populations.
caption: Healthy flock of White-rumped vultures (Gyps bengalensis) & Indian vultures (Gyps indicus) from Mangaon, Maharashtra, India  in March 2020
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "4608", "Image ImageLength": "3456", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "COOLPIX P900", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CC (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2020:04:26 00:17:07", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "308", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1126", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8458", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/125", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "280", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Standard Output Sensitivity", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2020:03:01 07:36:08", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2020:03:01 07:36:08", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "870723/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "2485427/500000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "29/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Fine weather", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "143", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1000", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "750", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1000", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "800", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}