Vultures
are termed as natural cleaners. But their prominence in the blue skies
of Bangladesh has drastically fallen over the years. From their vast
numbers in the previous decades, they have decreased to an estimated
number of below 500. Their reduction in numbers is so alarming that they
are presently more endangered than the tigers of the Sundarbans.
We
walked in the sylvan shadows, taking one step after another, not moving
much as if this magic would shatter to something ugly once we make our
presence felt. We were soaked in an enchanted world of green, grey,
brown and anything in between.
The tree trunks are huge. One
measured 28 feet if you went round from one point and returned to it.
And the trees are tall, shooting up high in the sky. Some should be as
tall as a 30-storey building.
The
leaves were thick and dark green. They together spread a leafy canopy
above. If you looked up, the sky would splinter through the leaves.
Sometimes it's just a green top above you.
Moss grew on the damp
trunks. And the creepers hung all around. The mighty banyan trees had
wrapped other mighty trees, slowly squeezing them to death. That is
Darwin at work.
Damp smell came from the night's dews gathering
on the ground, the droplets glinted like diamonds on grass blades. I
inhaled the smell.
It
was an unnaturally quite morning. The birds of the forest had fallen
silent because of the cold and mists. Only an occasional flowerpecker
would tweet. The loudest noise came from the giant Malayan squirrels
that would dart above our head from one branch to another and eye us
with suspicion and anger.
I
looked around and took in this dreamlike forest; I felt like an insect
crawling on the forest floor. Just then it flew past. A large dark shape
silently cruised by through the tree branches. Its huge wings spread
wide. Its neck stretched out. The flight was so silent that it almost
looked like a haunted soul.
I knew we are close to the hotspot. The place where vultures breed.
The
last time I saw vultures in large flocks was in 1971. I would lie on my
back on the open veranda of our home and look up. And there came the
vultures. One after another. Hundreds of them. From the direction of
Tejgaon Airport they would silently fly past me. Their wings held still
in the air. They looked satisfied after eating the corpses, the crops of
the ugly war that Pakistan had waged on us.
I would see them
perched on the trees beside the rail line in Karwan Bazar. Their tummy
full with human flesh. Once we chased one and it was so full of meat
that it could not fly.
After that vultures were few and far
between in my life. This is not surprising when their population dropped
drastically over the past three decades from as many as 90 million to
only 10,000 today, making them critically endangered worldwide.
There
are a few reasons why this magnificent bird dwindled in numbers. One of
them is the use of anti-inflammatory drugs such as diclofenac and
ketoprofen in cattle. Vultures are scavengers, living off dead animals.
So
when cattle treated with diclofenac die and the vultures feed on them,
the medicines work their way into its body system, causing renal
failure. Vultures don't have a special enzyme that can break down
diclofenac and therefore it hits their kidney badly.
But
then there are other reasons too, like loss of habitat and lack of
food. Vultures nest on tall trees. But with deforestation such trees are
rare. And cattle die less because of better treatment.
Today the
situation has come to the point that only about 500 of the majestic
birds are now left in Bangladesh. Things could have been on a continuous
decline unless environmentalists started raising alarms.
The
government also woke up to the concern and banned production and use of
diclofenac. And then a Bangladesh National Vulture Recovery Committee
was formed.
And a Vulture Safe Zone was declared where no harmful
medicines would be allowed for cattle and nesting trees would be
maintained.
This is a tough job indeed because a vulture hovers
over 30,000 square kilometres in search of food. So a large part of
Sylhet and Khulna have fallen under this safe zone where the Bangladesh
Forest Department and some NGOs are working, but a recent study
conducted by IUCN reveals that around 68% harmful drugs are still
available in these zones.
Rema forest where we were standing now
happens to be an important place for vultures. Its tall mother trees
offer good nesting places.
As we walked in its shadows, past the
giant trunks and the myriads of serpentine creepers winding down the
trees, we see more of the birds flying behind the trees. We knew we are
in the hotspot, a term used to mark the nesting zone.
We stood in
the cover of thick bushes and peeked over. About two hundred feet away
two vultures were sitting on a tall tree. Below them is a huge scraggy
nest. We found eight more nests within an hour. All nests had eggs.
“Nesting
season is a critical time for vultures,” says Shimanto Dipu, principal
investigator of the White-rumped Vulture Conservation Project of IUCN.
“Because vultures are very sensitive birds and any presence of humans
would scare them away. This is a real problem for Rema where villagers
intrude the forest for firewood and wild roots. They disturb the birds.
Often eggs do not hatch if the birds are disturbed too often.”
International
Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has undertaken a project and a
new approach to establish a sustainable vulture population in the
country by preventing the decline of the population through establishing
two Vulture Safe Zones. A Vulture Conservation Team has been formed,
and it carries out many important tasks like motivating villagers not to
go close to the nesting trees during the breeding season.
The
team members also visit the veterinary shops to discourage shop owners
from selling diclofenac and inform them about alternative medicines.
“Things
have improved to some extent,” Dipu says. “Last year we found 17 nests
and only eight of them had chicks. This year we have 32 nests and hope
there will be more chicks.”
