Conservation progress

Conservation progress

Since the discovery in the late 1990s that vulture population were declining rapidly a huge programme of work has been undertaken a range of conservation focused work and research. Along the way the project has followed false leads and suffered many frustrations, however significant conservation achievements and progress has been made. The time-line at the bottom of this page provides summary information on the project's key conservation progress

Follow the links below or on the left side-bar for more information on diagnosing the cause of the problem, alternative hypotheses for the cause of declines, banning diclofenac and work on safe alternative drugs to replace diclofenac.

Significant milestones for the vulture programme

1998 -- Anecdotal observations and counts of vultures at Keoladeo National Park indicate a decline in numbers in India

1999 -- Decline in vultures numbers in India is matched by similar declines in Pakistan and Nepal

2000 -- Research in to the cause of the decline is initiated in South Asia, investigating the potential role of food shortages, poisoning, use of pesticides, disease or other factors in the deaths and rapid decline of vultures

2003 -- Nationwide surveys across India indicate vultures have declined by more than 90% in comparison to populations in the early 1990s, and that an abundance of carcasses and breeding habitat (large trees and cliffs) indicate that these factors are not important for the decline in numbers

2003 -- Researchers from Pakistan and The Peregrine Fund discover that the veterinary drug diclofenac is widely used for treating livestock in Pakistan and is toxic to vultures

2004 -- Work in India and Nepal confirms the presence of diclofenac residues in vulture carcasses with visceral gout and the widespread availability and use of this drug by veterinarians

2004 -- Vulture Recovery meetings in Nepal and India produces a "Diclofenac Manifesto" and "Vulture Recovery Plan" 

2004 -- The vulture research facility at Pinjore, Haryana State, India

2006 -- Safety testing on African and Asian vultures demonstrates 

2006 -- The governments of India ban the manufacture and importation of veterinary diclofenac

India's Ministry of Environment and Forests produces a vulture action plan to tackle the conservation crisis within the country

2010 to 2013

In North west Rajasthan, including 6 District, All most Ban Diclo Generic volume with the help of District administration