Vultures at Doongerwadi

Unlike Khojeste Mistree, whose sole agenda is to bring in birds to consume our dead, we, as a socially responsible community, should first be concerned about restoration of the natural vulture population throughout the country and the world, as they are more essential as natural scavengers in the wild than as specialists surviving on an exclusive gourmet diet of dead Parsis. The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), too, has the onus of working towards the general rehabilitation of vultures, rather than pandering to the demands of a religious cult. Any co-operation, therefore, rendered to Doongerwadi by this august body of naturalists will presuppose this priority, and it is here that major conflicts of interest will definitely arise, rendering the aviary project a no-go.

Just think about the requirements of close monitoring of the project. Will such needs be met without permitting the experts free entry into the dakhmas to make necessary observations and maintain essential records? Will birds be permitted to be moved away for special treatment if required? If birds keep dying due to diclofenac or whatever, will the project be scrapped forthwith, or will the BNHS be required to keep replenishing the dead birds with more, when they are so difficult to breed? Who will call the shots — the BNHS, in favor of breeding vultures, or the BPP, desperate to have the corpses consumed at any cost?

The good intentions of BNHS president Homi Khusrokhan will not suffice to resolve such vital issues.

PHIROZE B. JAVERI

phiroze.javeri@gmail.com

With reference to the Bombay Parsi Punchayet’s (BPP) project of breeding vultures at Doongerwadi in Bombay, I feel that the BPP must make efforts to explain how drugs like diclofenac kill vultures and appeal to community members, doctors and hospitals to ban their use.

Hospitals like the B. D. Petit Parsee General, Masina, J. J. and K.E.M. (where most Parsis go for treatment) should be convinced and pressurized to ban the use of these drugs. Taking an affidavit from the relatives of the dead is rather foolish as the relatives may not be aware of the chemical content of the drugs prescribed.

I wonder whether it is worth wasting so much of the community’s money on the vulture project. If the BPP has so much money, they should buy a separate piece of land and start alternative methods of disposal of the dead, if the members of the community want them, as is already the practice in other cities of India. Then the Doongerwadi land will remain for the purpose it has been allotted, while the community will also have an alternative. This will also reduce the pressure on the dakhma. The Salsette Colony in Andheri has a dakhma which has been closed for several decades. Why not use it as a burial place or an electric crematorium?

If the BPP trustees are so confident regarding their vulture project, why don’t they spend the money from their own pockets? The Parsi community will erect a marble slab with their names by way of thanksgiving.

I feel the trustees should concentrate on living Parsis and their welfare by providing them with medical insurance and community kitchens rather than wasting money over the dead and treating citizens as the "living dead.” Most senior citizens do not have enough money to have nutritious meals or essential medication. Due to rapid inflation, even educated members of the family who have retired cannot survive on their meager pensions. NAUZER PESIKAKA

npesikaka@rediffmail.com