Andrew Routh - Chief Veterinary Officer

Why do vultures fly so high?
They fly so high so that they can find food on the ground. Vultures feed on dead animals so by flying up high they can see further over the ground and spot and fresh carcasses that they can eat from.

How do they survive so high up?
They use thermals to fly up so high. They have large powerful muscles for flying and they breathe in a very unique way because they breathe twice in every breath! They have special sacs in their lungs which allow them to store air so oxygen is always present in the lungs.

Why is it important to conserve vultures?
Vultures are scavengers. They feed on the carcasses of dead animals, so without them there’d be a lot of carrion left rotting on the ground. This would in turn cause the spread of disease like anthrax, cholera or botulism. In fact vultures are so specialised at eating carrion that they can eat meat infected with these diseases and they won’t contract them, the diseases are destroyed in their stomachs.

What sorts of vultures are endangered?
The species of vultures that I’m looking at are oriental white backed vultures, slender billed vultures and the long billed vulture.

What things are causing them to go extinct?
Well it was in 1999 that it was first noticed there had been a serious decline in vulture numbers in India and Pakistan. Vultures flying overhead used to be a common sight, but in 1999 when we examined population numbers it was discovered that there was only about 0.3% of the population left! There were a number of reasons for the decline but the 2 most serious ones were that the vultures were flying into overhead power cables and pathology reports showed that a lot of the birds were dying from kidney failure because they had a drug called diclofenac in their bodies.

What is diclofenac and how does it affect vultures?
It’s an anti-inflammatory drug. It is used by humans and has recently started being used in veterinary treatment as well. Farmers in India and Pakistan started giving this drug to their cattle that were ill or in pain in order to keep them working on their farm land for longer. When the cattle eventually died the farmers would often leave the dead animals out in the open, relying on the vultures to come and tidy up. However, the diclofenac present in the carcass poisoned the vultures and caused them to die from kidney failure. The dramatic decline of the vultures meant that other animals like rats and wild dogs were clearing up the dead bodies, and this lead to an increase in the spread of rabies throughout India.

What’s happening with the drug now?
The Government of India has banned the use of diclofenac and luckily a substitute, called Meloxicam, has been discovered that has the same benefits as diclofenac but is harmless to vultures. Sadly though there is still a trade in diclofenac and it is now causing trouble in other parts of the world.

Are vulture numbers recovering?
We haven’t seen any increase in the population numbers of the vultures, but we also haven’t seen any further decline either! Unfortunately the birds are still being affected by diclofenac (although to a lesser degree now) and they are also being shot around army bases to prevent damage to planes, they are still flying into power cables and they are still being injured in the Indian kite festival.

What is the Indian kite festival?
The festival happens all over India and involves a huge number of people flying kites up to 50-100 meters in the air. The vultures can fly into the kite strings, which can cut through soft tissue, and hundreds of birds get injured in this way. 10-15 years ago this would have been a welfare problem but now it is also a conservation problem. However the injured vultures are taken to breeding centres across India and treated. These injured birds cannot be released back into the wild but can then be part of a breeding program for the vultures. ZSL aims to breed 200-300 birds of each of the three species of vulture that were affected. They can then look into reintroducing the vultures once the drug problem has been resolved