© Environment News Service (ENS) 2000
October 3, 2000
By Devinder Sharma

MUMBAI, India, October 3, 2000 (ENS) - While the disappearance of vultures continues to baffle Indian wildlife experts, the country's Parsi community is planning to launch a captive breeding programme for the birds, for purely religious reasons.

The Parsis are descendants of the ancient Persians who were expelled from Persia by the Muhammedan conquerors, and who first settled at Surat, in Gujarat, India, about 1,200 years ago. Ancient tradition dictates that the Parsis leave their dead on hilltops known as towers of silence for vultures to eat.

"For us, conservation of vultures is closely linked to religion," said Khojeste P. Mistree of the Bombay Parsi Panchayat. "We don’t bury our dead because we respect the earth. We don’t consign it to the flames because we respect fire, and we don’t drown the dead for we respect water. We leave our dead bodies exposed to the sun so as to be devoured by the birds, and the vulture is the most important of these birds of prey."

In recent years, India's vulture population is estimated to have declined by as much as 90 percent, which has affected the rituals surrounding the mortal remains at the towers of silence. In Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay and home to more than 50,000 of India’s 76,000 Parsis, the disposal of dead bodies is becoming a problem. Gone are the days when about 70 to 100 birds would swarm at the tower of silence. Today only a few birds come.

"In many villages, the Tower of Silence has been rendered redundant," said Mistree. It is common for the Parsis to travel long distances to bring the dead to the five towers of silence in Mumbai. "We are worried at the breakdown of the system and are therefore keen to start a captive breeding programme for vultures on our own."

Wildlife experts have struggled to explain the sharp decline in the vulture population. Opinions range from a mystery virus, which is affecting the white backed and long billed vultures, to high mortality rates and the failure to breed in captivity. White backed and long billed vultures show symptoms of drooping necks before becoming lethargic and dying within a month or so.

The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) is collaborating with the Venkateshwar Hatcheries Research Centre and the National Institute of Virology to investigate the causes of the vulture's decline in India. But bureaucratic wrangling over the removal of dead carcasses and the permission to collect the sick birds is obstructing effective monitoring of the disease and delaying remedial measures.

The delay has split the expert community. Some believe that in the absence of any definite answer it is time to seek international help while others argue that it is premature to seek international help into a diagnosis.

Scientists believe the virus has already crossed over to Nepal and Pakistan. With the vultures gone from the famed Royal Chitwan National Park in Nepal, close to the Indian border, and also from areas in Pakistan adjoining to Rajasthan in India, it is feared the disease will soon spread to west Asia. Error: Unable to read footer file.