Vulture number soars after feeding scheme

By Amar Raj Naharki,Tanahu, Feb. 6: The vultures, which are in the endangered list, have started to increase in number after the Shivalaya Cow Protection Centre run by Byas Municipality of Tanahu arranged food.

A herd of vultures has started to be seen after cattle that have died of old age have been given to vultures at the cow protection centre.

Aiming to protect the vulture, which is known as a scavenger bird, food has been arranged at Sishuwa Bhateri in Byas Municipality-10, Dumsi. After providing them with sufficient food, a herd of vultures of various species can be seen around that area.

Baikuntha Neupane, Mayor of the Municipality, said that vultures are disappearing due to a lack of food as well as poisoned food.

He informed that three employees have been arranged at the Cow Protection Centre and an amount of Rs. 1 million to Rs. 1.5 million has been given annually for straw and bran.

"Everybody should have an environment to live in nature. There was a situation where vultures would become extinct due to a lack of food. We have arranged for food through the Cow Conservation Centre," said Mayor Neupane.

Attention has been drawn of the Nepal Electricity Authority to prevent vultures from falling into high-tension wires.

Tulsi Ram Sapkota, Chairman of Shivalaya Cow Protection Centre, said the centre was established with the help of the municipality to shelter the stray cattle as they started causing accidents on the roads. Now it has also become a vulture conservation centre as vultures started coming to eat carcasses when they left the dead cattle on the bank of Madhi River or on the nearby ground without burying them.

Sapkota said that it was difficult to see vultures before the establishment of the centre, but now 60 to 70 vultures of different species come daily.

"We don't know the names of all the vultures but there are about nine species of vultures including White-rumped Vulture, Himalayan Griffon, Egyptian Vulture, Cinereous Vulture, and other local species."

The centre was established four years ago. A biogas plant has been constructed using cow dung, urine and rotting waste in three blocks of about 300 ropani public land. Veterinary Hospital and Animal Services Expert Centre have also been helping the centre.

Dr. Balkumar Shrestha, chief of the centre, said that even when the cow is sick, medicine is given which is safe to the vultures on the advice of the veterinarian to prevent the vultures from dying. The government has also banned the sale and distribution of 'Diclofenac' medicine, to be used for sick cattle and harmful to vultures.

He said that rearing loose cattle would help to maintain ecological balance, as well as vulture conservation.

Altogether 100 cows have been protected in the centre. For this, the municipality has constructed a wire fence at Rs. 1.2 million.

Komalraj Kafle, Chief of Division Forest Office Tanahun, said that the main role of vulture is to create a balanced environment without causing environmental pollution. He said that the efforts made by the municipality for vulture conservation are exemplary.

Yagya Prasad Sharma, president of Shisuwa Bhateri Agricultural Cooperative located in the area, informed that the vulture, which was on an endangered list, has been seen again in large numbers despite being out of sight for a few years. The vultures were lost because the villagers started burying dead cattle and they could not get food.

Some 20 years ago, a large number of vultures used to be found in the place. They used to build nest on the tall Simal trees. But even though they disappeared in the middle, they started to appear again after getting food, Sharma said.

Locals consider the vulture as a symbol of environmental purity. Sharma said that diseases such as diarrhoea have not spread in society because the vultures clean the environment.

There are 32 species of vultures across the world, nine of them are found in Asia and eight in Nepal.