Vulture protection initiative launched

KATHMANDU, Feb 22: A regional initiative to protect vultures, whose number has declined by about 95 percent over the last decade in many parts of the Indian subcontinent, has been launched in Nepal.



Speaker Subas Nembang launched Saving Asia´s Vultures from Extinction (SAVE) on Tuesday amid a function in Kathmandu.[break]



 The initiative -- jointly launched by the UK-based Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and Zoological Society of London (ZSL) in coordination with Nepal´s Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC), Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN) and National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC) -- targets to increase the number of vultures by reviving their fast-degrading habitat and saving them from carcasses infested with Diclofenac, the use of which in sick cattle could be fatal to the endangered bird of prey.



Earlier, the initiative was launched in India. According to Dr Hum Gurung, Chief Executive Officer of BCN, a board meeting of the SAVE consortium will be held in London on November 9 where all the partners of the initiative will table their proposals to protect vultures.



The existence of vultures is very crucial in maintaining ecological system, as they clean up the environment by devouring cattle carcasses carelessly left by people.



Eight different types of vultures exist in Nepal. Of them, four are in the list of endangered species of International Union for Conservation of Nepal (IUCN). Earlier, Nepal had announced a five-year plan to save vultures, apart from banning the use of Diclofenac.

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