Stop use of diclofenac in livestock to save birds’

JAIPUR: Diclofenac, banned drug for veterinary use, still used to kill birds of prey in Rajasthan. Expressing concern on the alarming situation of vulture conservation in Rajasthan, Rishad Naoroji listed by Forbes among the richest green billionaires, has written to the state government about stopping the illegal misuse of human diclofenac to treat livestock.
Diclofenac, which is used in veterinary medicine, has caused the demise of White-backed Vultures and Long-billed Vultures to the extent that they are almost extinct in India and still struggling to come back from the brink."As is evident from what has been observed at Jorbeer, Bikaner, diclofenac has started affecting Steppe Eagles (and possibly other eagles in the same genus). As a person who has spent his life studying birds of prey, I am alarmed at what the long term consequences may be to these species of birds as is the case with vultures today," writes Naoroji, Governing Council member, Bombay Natural History Society Committee member and trustee of Raptor Research and Conservation Foundation. Seeking government intervention in checking use of diclofenac to treat livestock, Naoroji says, 'Government intervention is required urgently to address this matter so that the fate that befell the vultures does not visit the eagles."
Naoroji who has been collecting data on raptors for 10 years and so he attached several research papers to substantiate his plea. This included one published in the journal Bird Conservation International, wherein scientists present results of tests carried out on two steppe eagles found dead at a cattle carcass dump in Jorbeer. Both birds had diclofenac residue in their tissues and exhibited the same clinical signs of kidney failure as seen in Gyps vultures experimentally given diclofenac. Scientists now fear that all species in this genus, known as Aquila, are susceptible to Diclofenac.
Dr Toby Galligan from Royal Society for the Protection of Birds RSPB, UK's largest nature conservation charity conservation scientist and one of the authors of the paper, said, "We have known for quite some time now that diclofenac is toxic to Gyps vultures, including the Eurasian Griffon vulture, but we now know it is toxic to an Aquila eagle too." The birds died of kidney failure after eating the carcasses of animals that had died within a few days of being treated with diclofenac to ease pain and swelling, writes Naoroji.
Veterinary diclofenac has caused an unprecedented decline in South Asia's Gyps vulture populations, notes Naoroji. The three species-Oriental white-backed, long-billed and the slender-billed vulture-classified by IUCN as critically endangered, have reduced by more than 97% between 1992 and 2007. Long-billed vultures are now thought to number about 45,000 and slender-billed vultures just 1,000.