Vultures were down 99.9% in parts of India. A drug ban and 20 years of conservation have turned the tide.
At the beginning of the 21st century, vulture numbers in India and across south Asia were in freefall and nobody understood why. The situation was urgent and international cooperation was needed to solve this complicated puzzle. After the veterinary drug diclofenac was shown to be the cause of the declines, in 2006 decisive action was taken by the Indian Government, immediately followed by those in Nepal and Pakistan, to ban this killer drug and safeguard vulture populations.
In the twenty years since, conservation organisations, along with state and national governments across South Asia, have spearheaded efforts to help recover vulture populations that were once on the precipice of extinction – resulting in one of the biggest conservation success stories of our time. Let’s reflect for a moment on how far conservation efforts have come in that time and the leading players that have made this recovery a reality.
Huge declines
Where once the skies of South Asia would have been filled with vultures, research by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) in the late 1990s first detected signs that vulture populations were declining rapidly. Subsequent surveys carried out by BNHS, and supported by the RSPB, showed that by 2007, White-rumped Vulture numbers had dropped by 99.9% across northern India in little over a decade. This pattern was replicated in Pakistan and Nepal, with populations of Slender-billed Vulture, Indian Vulture, and Red-headed Vulture, similarly affected. Vulture populations were undergoing the most precipitous declines of any formerly abundant bird species in the world and were plummeting towards extinction.
The situation prompted international attention and action. Researchers from BNHS, Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN) and the Ornithological Society of Pakistan (OSP) were joined by international partners from the RSPB, Zoological Society of London and The Peregrine Fund to identify the root of the problem.
Discovering a killer drug
Although dead birds were often showing similar symptoms, the cause wasn't immediately obvious. Vulture carcasses were tested for pesticides, herbicides, toxic heavy metals and other environmental pollutants, but to no avail. However, in 2003 The Peregrine Fund with OSP in Pakistan, made a breakthrough.
They learnt that a new non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, diclofenac, had recently become popular among livestock owners, and that vultures that were scavenging carcasses of cattle treated with the drug were suffering kidney failure and eventually dying as a result. Teams from BNHS and BCN, supported by the RSPB, found that the same thing was happening to birds in India and Nepal.
Prompted by the breakthrough, a vulture-safe alternative to diclofenac was identified (meloxicam) and in 2006, the Governments of India, Pakistan and Nepal banned the manufacture and importation of veterinary diclofenac. This was a monumental step in safeguarding the future of vultures in south Asia and one that undoubtedly prevented their extinction.
The bans have been supported by intensive grassroots and awareness work by BNHS, BCN and other conservation organisations across South Asia.
Preventing vultures from being exposed to veterinary diclofenac has not been as simple as banning the drug’s use. Loopholes such as human diclofenac being used by vets and farmers (diclofenac is not banned for human use and is the same compound) have been a challenge, but in 2015 it was again India that stepped up and banned multidose vials thus curbing the main source of illegal diclofenac use in veterinary practice.
Testing veterinary drugs
Identifying other toxic drugs as well as providing livestock owners with vulture-safe alternatives has been vital in keeping existing vulture populations safe. In addition to meloxicam, tolfenamic acid has now been proven to be safe to vultures, while testing of ketoprofen, aceclofenac and nimesulide, which were found to be toxic, has resulted in the Indian Government recently banning these drugs.
A system whereby the toxicity of drugs to vultures is tested prior to their licensing, would be an important step in ensuring that all new veterinary drugs are safe for vultures. This has become a key advocacy target for vulture conservation.
Vulture Safe Zones
Ensuring that areas are free of toxic drugs, so that wild vultures have safe places to live and where captive-bred birds can be released, is central to the concept of creating Vulture Safe Zones.
These zones focus on an area of 100km in radius, centred on a vulture nesting colony or an area earmarked for the release of captive birds. Within that area, conservation activities aim to eliminate the use of toxic veterinary drugs – through advocacy and awareness-raising of drug bans; the promotion of safe alternatives; monitoring the effects of conservation actions; and in some cases, providing food free from toxic drugs.
In 2021, the world’s first truly safe Vulture Safe Zone was declared in Nepal, with surveys showing that the presence of veterinary diclofenac had been reduced to zero and tracking of vultures fitted with GPS transmitters demonstrating high survival. Vulture populations had also shown a rapid, albeit partial, recovery.
In 2025, Bird Conservation Nepal, Renewable World and the RSPB secured Darwin Initiative funding for a new project which aims to create Nepal’s second official Vulture Safe Zone.
The Vulture Safe Zone approach is also underway elsewhere in the region and in Assam, India, the country’s first Vulture Safe Zone is well on its way to being declared.
Conservation breeding centres
Back in the early 2000s, the future looked so bleak for Asian vultures that conservation breeding centres were established to provide a safety net and build up a new stock of birds to release into the wild once the threat had been removed.
In India, BNHS established a number of large-scale vulture breeding centres. None of the three most threatened species (White-rumped, Indian and Slender-billed Vulture) had been bred in captivity before. Pioneering work by BNHS with advice from the International Centre for Birds of Prey soon resulted in the first chicks being successfully produced.
Funding for the breeding programme in India was initially from the UK Government’s Darwin Initiative, but the Indian Government has again stepped up so support now comes mainly from the state Forest Departments of Haryana, West Bengal, Assam and Madhya Pradesh as well as Central Government of India. The RSPB and other donors, including the Hawk Conservancy Trust for a Pakistan centre, have continued to provide important help.
Following the declaration of the Vulture Safe Zone, in 2023, the final birds were released from the Vulture Breeding Centre in Nepal, marking a significant milestone and major success for the project reflecting the increase in wild populations.