Heramba Nath,
herambanath2222@gmail.com
Assam, with its rich natural diversity, verdant forests, and lush wetlands, has long been a sanctuary for a variety of bird species. Among these, vultures once played a critical role as nature’s scavengers, maintaining the ecological balance by swiftly disposing of animal carcasses. Their presence in the skies over Assam’s villages, cremation grounds, riverbanks, and grazing fields was once so common that their absence now leaves a disturbing void in the region’s ecological and cultural landscape. Today, however, vultures are no longer seen in most parts of Assam — a silent disappearance that raises profound concerns about environmental health, biodiversity, and the long-term consequences of human interference with natural systems.
The decline of vultures in Assam mirrors a broader crisis across South Asia, but the situation here carries distinct features rooted in regional practices, veterinary habits, and local ecological factors. Vultures, particularly the White-rumped Vulture, the Indian Vulture, and the Slender-billed Vulture, once thrived in Assam’s open fields and semi-forested areas. Their numbers started dwindling dramatically in the 1990s, and by the early 2000s, large colonies had vanished from their traditional nesting and feeding grounds. The cause, as identified by ornithologists and conservation biologists, has been largely attributed to the use of a veterinary drug called diclofenac.
Diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory medication widely administered to cattle for pain relief and swelling, proved to be fatally toxic to vultures feeding on treated carcasses. When vultures consumed the flesh of dead livestock that had been recently injected with diclofenac, they suffered acute kidney failure, leading to visceral gout and rapid death. This single factor alone was responsible for the catastrophic crash of vulture populations in Assam and beyond, a phenomenon so severe that it was described as one of the fastest population declines ever recorded in a wild bird species globally.
Though the Government of India officially banned the veterinary use of diclofenac in 2006, its illegal use, alongside the continued availability of human formulations sold in large multi-dose vials, ensured that the threat remained persistent. In rural Assam, where awareness of the drug’s ecological impact remains low and veterinary alternatives like meloxicam have been slow to gain acceptance, diclofenac’s shadow continues to linger. The lack of stringent monitoring mechanisms and the covert use of the drug by unregulated veterinary practitioners have compounded the problem, ensuring that even today, over a decade after the ban, vultures remain absent from Assam’s skies.
The ecological implications of this disappearance are severe. Vultures play a unique and irreplaceable role as natural sanitizers. By swiftly consuming animal carcasses, they prevent the proliferation of disease-causing pathogens in the environment. In their absence, carcasses remain exposed for longer periods, attracting feral dog populations and other scavengers less efficient in processing decaying matter. This has led to a sharp increase in feral dog numbers, particularly in rural and semi-urban parts of Assam, a development directly linked to the rise in rabies cases and other zoonotic diseases. The World Health Organization has previously warned of this chain reaction in regions witnessing vulture extinctions, and Assam now finds itself confronting the reality of this prediction.
Adding to the problem are intentional poisonings, often targeted at feral dogs or wild predators, which inadvertently kill vultures when they consume the poisoned meat. Mass poisoning events have been documented in Assam, such as in the Chaygaon area, where dozens of vultures perished after feeding on a deliberately contaminated carcass. These incidents reflect a broader conflict between human communities and wildlife in the region, exacerbated by shrinking forests, increased human settlement in fringe areas, and the absence of effective wildlife conflict management strategies.
The loss of vultures has also disrupted traditional and cultural practices in Assam. In many rural communities, vultures were considered custodians of the environment, their presence seen as a sign of purity and balance. In cremation grounds, particularly along riverbanks, vultures were once an integral part of the natural cycle of death and decay, their absence today marking a profound rupture in the age-old relationship between human societies and the natural world.
Recognising the gravity of this crisis, conservation initiatives have begun to take shape in Assam. The Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre (VCBC) at Rani, near Guwahati, is one such effort aimed at captive breeding and eventual reintroduction of vultures into safe zones. The centre houses rescued vultures and has been working to establish a population capable of surviving in a diclofenac-free environment. Alongside breeding, the centre promotes awareness campaigns and veterinary outreach to replace harmful drugs with safer alternatives.
Yet, the road to recovery remains fraught with challenges. Breeding centres, though valuable, cannot compensate for the vast habitat loss vultures have suffered. Deforestation for tea plantations, urban expansion, highway construction, and river embankment projects have destroyed nesting trees and roosting sites across the Brahmaputra valley. Many traditional vulture nesting trees — particularly tall, old banyans and peepal trees — have been felled, and the shrinking availability of undisturbed feeding grounds has made survival in the wild increasingly difficult.
Additionally, surveillance of veterinary drug use in rural Assam remains weak. Diclofenac continues to be smuggled or repurposed from human pharmacies, and the implementation of meloxicam as a safe alternative has yet to gain widespread adoption due to cost concerns and a lack of awareness among cattle owners and local veterinarians. Without decisive state-level intervention, including strict pharmacy regulation and incentivised distribution of vulture-safe drugs, efforts to reintroduce vultures will remain precarious.
The disappearance of vultures from Assam is more than an isolated incident of species decline; it represents a systemic failure in environmental governance, public health planning, and community engagement. It serves as a stark reminder of the cascading effects that can follow when a key species is removed from an ecosystem. The increased risk of disease outbreaks, ecological imbalance, and the erosion of traditional cultural practices are just the visible symptoms of a deeper environmental malaise.
However, this grim narrative can still be reversed. Scientific evidence from other parts of India, such as Haryana’s successful vulture conservation projects, demonstrates that with sustained policy enforcement, public participation, and ecological restoration, vulture populations can stabilize and even recover. Assam, with its strong cultural connection to nature and a history of community-based conservation, holds the potential to become a vulture conservation success story if it acts swiftly and decisively.
The priority now must be a multi-pronged strategy: strict enforcement of the diclofenac ban, mass awareness drives in rural communities, widespread availability of meloxicam, restoration of nesting and roosting habitats, and investment in long-term conservation breeding and monitoring programmes. Educational institutions, NGOs, and traditional local bodies must be roped in to build a grassroots movement for vulture conservation, turning what is currently an obscure issue into a pressing public concern.
The silent disappearance of vultures from Assam stands as a testament to the unforeseen consequences of human negligence and the fragile balance of natural systems. The vultures’ absence today has left a void in both the skies and the ecological chain — a void whose impacts are slowly unravelling in the form of health hazards, ecological disruptions, and the erosion of cultural practices. But their story is not yet over.
There remains a slender opportunity to correct this imbalance, to protect what remains and restore what has been lost. The survival of Assam’s remaining vultures and the revival of their role as guardians of environmental hygiene demand an immediate, uncompromising, and collective effort. It is a call not just for the policymakers, scientists, and conservationists, but for every citizen of Assam who wishes to see a healthy, balanced environment for future generations.
0 Comments