Press Releases 2004

International Summit on South Asia's Dying Vultures in Kathmandu, Feb 5-6

February 3, 2004

NEW DELHI - Concern for South Asia's dying vultures will bring together officials and experts from nations around the globe, including the U.S. and South Asian nations like India, Pakistan, Bhutan and Nepal, for a conclave in Kathmandu from February 5-6, 2004.

The international summit, entitled "Veterinary Use of the Drug Diclofenac: A New Environmental Threat Exposed by the Collapse of Vulture Populations in South Asia," is being organized by the U.S.-based Peregrine Foundation, and is supported by the U.S. government. Summit participants will address the recent phenomenon of increased mortality of vultures in South Asia, their impending extinction and the likely consequences for South Asia's ecosystems.

In a well-supported research, the Peregrine Foundation has concluded that use of the generic drug Diclofenac in livestock appears to be responsible for the deaths of many of the vultures, which die when they scavenge carcasses containing the drug's residues. The Peregrine Foundation has organized the summit to expedite this transfer of knowledge and responsibility to governments. At the summit, the Peregrine Fund will offer recommendations to governments of the vultures' range states.

Asian vulture population declines were first measured in Keoladeo National Park in 1996, with reductions in excess of 95% recorded across India by 2000. Three species have now been listed as critically endangered by BirdLife International. The single largest cause of mortality (85%) was attributed to renal failure. By April 2003 the Peregrine Fund had identified a 100% correlation between renal failure in dead or dying vultures collected in the field in Pakistan and the presence of Diclofenac.

Subsequently, experiments in Pakistan demonstrated that very small doses of Diclofenac cause death in vultures from renal failure and that fatal amounts of the drug can be ingested by vultures eating livestock that die after being recently treated with recommended veterinary doses.

Diclofenac, and possibly other drugs in the class of non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), represent a new environmental threat with demonstrated capacity to decimate populations of formerly abundant birds in a very short period of time.

Vultures are sampling the environment and their deaths and population collapse have demonstrated a widespread toxic effect. These results are important to toxicologists and conservationists worldwide and should lead to better control of drug contamination in the environment.