Animal Instincts: International Vulture Awareness Day 2016

Vultures are an ecologically vital group of birds that face a range of threats in many areas that they occur. Populations of many species are under pressure and some species are facing extinction.

Vultures are nature’s own cleaning devices, removing infected carcasses from the environment before they pose the threat to other animals or humans, without any negative effects to its own health. Our surroundings without vultures would be a foul-smelling place filled with disease and rotting dead bodies.

There are 9 species of Vultures in India, and probably had the highest population of vultures. It is sad that the decline is now at a 99% high, even 99.9% of a particular species. It faces a threat from the drug called Diclofenac which is a pain killer and an anti-inflammatory drug. The veterinary preparation of this drug is legally banned but the vets use human preparation of the drug which is illegal.

Hence, its about the time that a full blown conservation efforts should be put in place. To address this issue and spread awareness, an event is being organised by Save Tiger First called ‘Vultures on the Edge’ on the occasion of International Vulture Awareness Day 2016, this Saturday, on 3rd September, at Venkatappa Art Gallery, Kasturba Road, Bangalore.

For more details on the event and confirmation of your participation, please visit the Facebook event page – https://www.facebook.com/events/867156136717542/?active_tab=highlights

Look forward to your participation at the event to contribute your bit and see if we can save these innocent beauties of the sky.

The Time is Ticking – let’s save them before they fly away!

Tune in for the special interview with:

Mr. Chris Bowden Globally Threatened Species Officer for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), England and Programme Manager for SAVE (Saving Asia’s Vultures from Extinction), South Asia

Chris Bowden is Globally Threatened Species Officer for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), and has been coordinating the Asian Vulture Programme in South Asia since 2004. He is currently also Programme Manager for SAVE (Saving Asia’s Vultures from Extinction), a consortium of regional and international organisations committed to the conservation of vultures in South Asia(http://www.save-vultures.org/). Chris is also the Co-Chair of the IUCN Vulture Specialist Group (VSG).

AND

Mr. Prashanth Nageshappa, Advisor, Save Tiger First, who is a trained Naturalist and a Conservation Photographer. He is deeply interested in the conservation of Ecology and believes that every small creature in nature has a role to play.

Interview and Post by Padma Ashok, CoFounder Save Tigers First

https://soundcloud.com/radioactivecr90-4mhz/animal-instincts-international-vulture-awareness-day-2016