Readers' Forum
Vanishing vultures
Parsiana’s readers have observed more than once that the reading habits of our community tend to be poor. Checking this trend is imperative! In its January 2016 edition National Geographic magazine had carried an article on vultures in which it was written: "As bad as the African situation appears it has been worse elsewhere. In India the populations of the most common vultures — white rumped, long billed and slender billed — declined by more than 96% in just a single decade.
"The Indian die-off received a lot of attention because its downstream effects were so startling. India has one of the largest cattle populations in the world, but most Indians don’t eat beef. After millions of vultures fell victim to poisoning, dead cattle started piling up. Then the dog population — released from competing with vultures for scavenging food — leaped by seven million to 29 million animals over an 11-year period. The result: an estimated 38.5 million dog bites. Bat populations soared. Deaths from rabies increased by nearly 50,000, which cost Indian society roughly $ 35 billion in mortality, treatment expenses and lost wages.”
Writer Elizabeth Royte adds: "The vultures may be the most maligned bird on the planet, a living metaphor for greed and rapaciousness. Leviticus and Deuteronomy classify vultures as unclean, creatures to be held in abomination by the children of Israel. In his diary during the voyage of HMS Beagle in 1835, Charles Darwin called the birds ‘disgusting’ with their bald heads ‘formed to wallow in putridity.’ Among the many adaptations to their feculent niche: the ability to vomit their entire stomach contents when threatened, the better to take flight.” Revolting? Perhaps. But vultures are hardly without redeeming values… they perform a crucial but massively underrated ecosystem service: the rapid clean-up and recycling of dead animals.
The over-zealous orthodox members of the community, for example, considered pursuing an ambitious, unfeasible aviary project for breeding vultures. On reading the following, WAPIZ (World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis) would concede it was a futile idea conceived in ignorance. The anthropogenic threat is compounded by the vultures’ reproductive biology. They don’t reach sexual maturity until five to seven years of age; they produce a chick only once every year or two and 90% of their young die in the first year. Over the next half century vulture numbers of the continent are projected to decline by 70% to 97%. That sounds the death knell of dakhmenashini!
Is WAPIZ still hopeful of the survival of the system? That would be irrational optimism. RASHID G. KHOSRAVI
"The Indian die-off received a lot of attention because its downstream effects were so startling. India has one of the largest cattle populations in the world, but most Indians don’t eat beef. After millions of vultures fell victim to poisoning, dead cattle started piling up. Then the dog population — released from competing with vultures for scavenging food — leaped by seven million to 29 million animals over an 11-year period. The result: an estimated 38.5 million dog bites. Bat populations soared. Deaths from rabies increased by nearly 50,000, which cost Indian society roughly $ 35 billion in mortality, treatment expenses and lost wages.”
Writer Elizabeth Royte adds: "The vultures may be the most maligned bird on the planet, a living metaphor for greed and rapaciousness. Leviticus and Deuteronomy classify vultures as unclean, creatures to be held in abomination by the children of Israel. In his diary during the voyage of HMS Beagle in 1835, Charles Darwin called the birds ‘disgusting’ with their bald heads ‘formed to wallow in putridity.’ Among the many adaptations to their feculent niche: the ability to vomit their entire stomach contents when threatened, the better to take flight.” Revolting? Perhaps. But vultures are hardly without redeeming values… they perform a crucial but massively underrated ecosystem service: the rapid clean-up and recycling of dead animals.
The over-zealous orthodox members of the community, for example, considered pursuing an ambitious, unfeasible aviary project for breeding vultures. On reading the following, WAPIZ (World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis) would concede it was a futile idea conceived in ignorance. The anthropogenic threat is compounded by the vultures’ reproductive biology. They don’t reach sexual maturity until five to seven years of age; they produce a chick only once every year or two and 90% of their young die in the first year. Over the next half century vulture numbers of the continent are projected to decline by 70% to 97%. That sounds the death knell of dakhmenashini!
Is WAPIZ still hopeful of the survival of the system? That would be irrational optimism. RASHID G. KHOSRAVI
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