On January 16, 2021, a big, blotchy, elliptical egg started to crack open on the Vulture Conservation and Breeding Centre (VCBC) in Pinjore, Haryana. The captive-bred chick pushed by means of her calcite cocoon, by which she had laid curled up cosily for 2 months. When she emerged, she was lined in comfortable gray down and was nonetheless blind.
Over the following few months, the fluffy, wide-eyed chick would develop, and develop some extra, into a big, not-so-gainly creature. “N11”, as this explicit white-rumped vulture was named, now had a gleaming hooked invoice, a definite hunch, an virtually featherless head, a mighty wingspan, and piercing eyes. Now, this countenance is a whole antithesis to its benign nature: this taloned chicken doesn’t hunt its prey, it scavenges on carrion.
The white-rumped vulture occurs to be certainly one of India’s most critically endangered species. From 40 million people within the Eighties, three vulture species in India (the white-rumped vulture, the long-billed vulture, and the slender-billed vulture) abruptly confronted near-extinction in 2007. The white-rumped vulture fared the worst: its numbers had whittled down catastrophically to only 0.1 per cent of its authentic inhabitants.
The decline of vultures in India was the quickest amongst any chicken species on this planet’s recorded historical past, and the most important in magnitude for the reason that extinction of the passenger pigeon within the US, based on a brand new analysis paper revealed in 2024 within the The American Financial Overview (AER) journal by the scientists Eyal Frank and Anant Sudarshan.
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Quickly, a singular reason for their decimation was deduced: diclofenac, a painkiller that people nonetheless use and which dairy farmers had began to inject their ailing cattle with in 1994. And when these cattle finally turned carrion, they had been scavenged upon by vultures that ingested the diclofenac-infused meat. The drug proved poisonous to vultures. Their kidneys failed, and inside weeks, they had been useless. And of their thousands and thousands.
In 2006, the Central authorities banned diclofenac for veterinary use. Earlier, in 2001, the Bombay Pure Historical past Society (BNHS) and the Haryana Forest Division established the VCBC to captive-breed and launch the birds into the wild. N11 was a product of the VCBC’s essential initiative. Final August, whereas nonetheless a sub-adult, she was fitted with a worldwide system for cellular communications tag and launched into the wild in Maharashtra’s Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve, together with 9 different white-rumped vultures.
One of many greatest conservation tales from India is the expansion in its elephant inhabitants, which now stands round 27,000. Within the image, elephants on the Corbett Nationwide Park.
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ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES
The urgency to avoid wasting this species is not only about conserving biodiversity: it’s about saving human lives too. The collapse of vultures in India led to the loss of life of no fewer than 1,04,386 individuals between 2000 and 2005 from the sheer “shock to sanitation”, based on The AER paper.
The significance of wildlife
With out the sanitation providers supplied by vultures (a bunch can scale back the carrion of a complete cow to bones inside 40 minutes), carcasses had been left to rot, reducing the dissolved oxygen in water and releasing faecal coliform into the atmosphere. “Rotting carcasses may also transmit pathogens and ailments, resembling anthrax, to different scavengers,” the authors stated within the paper.
The useless cattle additionally started to draw canine and rats, exposing people to zoonotic ailments resembling rabies. Certainly, the researchers noticed a “sharp enhance” within the sale of rabies vaccines after 1996.
The story of vulture N11 holds a essential lesson for India: the inextricable hyperlink between wild species, human well-being, and livelihoods. The nation is residence to almost 8 per cent of the world’s documented species, with 92,037 animal species—together with bugs—and 45,500 plant species, based on the 2024 International Nature Conservation Index.
Human well being and biodiversity loss
Within the midst of the sixth mass extinction within the historical past of the planet, there may be an evolving discourse on biodiversity loss within the context of human well being and economics.
As an illustration, latest analysis exhibits how the decline of insectivorous bats in some elements of the world has impacted organic pest management, forcing farmers to speculate extra in pesticides.
Equally, a 2021 paper revealed in Proceedings of the Nationwide Academy of Sciences talked about how restoring wolf populations can scale back deer-vehicle collisions in Wisconsin, US. It stated that about 1 million such collisions happen yearly in your entire US, “inflicting 29,000 human accidents, 200 human fatalities, and practically $10 billion in whole financial losses”.
A 2022 examine in Environmental Analysis Letters confirmed that an amphibian collapse from a fungal pathogen introduced in through the worldwide pet commerce in Costa Rica and Panama elevated the incidence of malaria in individuals. Right here, the authors talk about the hyperlink between biodiversity loss and “the often-hidden human welfare prices of conservation failures”.
The WHO references latest research that estimate that greater than 75 per cent of rising infectious ailments are zoonotic—assume COVID-19. These ailments, which soar from animals to people, usually come up in areas the place ecosystems and habitats have been disrupted by deforestation or land-use change.
The case of Kyasanur forest illness
That is exemplified in our Western Ghats, the place a tick-borne viral illness, the Kyasanur forest illness (KFD), has raged for the reason that Fifties as forests obtained quickly fragmented and cleared for mining, constructing roads, and agriculture. “Monkey fever”, as this zoonotic illness is referred to, was first found within the Kyasanur forest vary in Karnataka’s Shivamogga district. Over the following few a long time, the illness unfold to Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Goa.
The tick’s hosts embody shrews, langurs, and birds, from which it jumps to cattle and people—largely marginalised, forest-dependent communities. Round 500 individuals are contaminated yearly; the mortality fee from this haemorrhagic illness is between 10 per cent and 15 per cent.
Between 2012 and 2017, there have been at the very least 340 human deaths, and the numbers are usually not displaying indicators of abating. In 2024, Karnataka reported 14 deaths and 303 confirmed circumstances of KFD. On March 17, Karnataka reported its first loss of life from KFD this 12 months, with 95 optimistic circumstances reported thus far.
Prashanth N. Srinivas, a researcher on the Institute of Public Well being in Bengaluru, stated that the illness is finest addressed by means of the idea of “One Well being”, which “recognises that the well being of people, home and wild animals, crops, and the broader atmosphere (together with ecosystems) are intently linked and interdependent”, because the WHO defines it.
In accordance with Srinivas, the one manner we will faucet into “the complete potential” of One Well being is when State governments create a One Well being coverage “that’s in keeping with the suggestions of the Nationwide One Well being Mission”.
Such a coverage may guarantee the approaching collectively of a number of departments and stakeholders from fields starting from agriculture, well being, and veterinary science, to schooling, he informed Frontline.
Age of zoonotic ailments
On this age of zoonotic ailments, when wild species are seen with worry, how do we start to know the irreplaceable position they play in our lives and in our shared atmosphere?
Talking to Frontline, Eyal Frank, lead writer of The AER paper, stated: “Since COVID-19, individuals have been involved about bats and their capability to be a bunch to many various viruses. Zoonotic illness outbreak usually happens as a result of people encroach on the habitats of these wild animals, which is a part of the drivers which might be decreasing biodiversity.”
He added: “The elevated danger of zoonotic illness outbreak is a part of the detrimental affect of degrading habitats. Even when bats current a sort of danger to us, they’re additionally vital in offering many advantages, resembling organic pest management (within the case of insect-eating bats) or pollination (within the case of fruit-eating bats).”
India, in the meantime, has been ranked an abysmal 176 out of 180 nations listed within the 2024 International Nature Conservation Index (NCI), and clearly has an enormous process forward of it: to undo the harm that has been completed to species and their ecosystems and to protect what stays.
As an illustration, at least 23,300 sq. kilometres of tree cowl was misplaced between 2001 and 2019, based on the NCI report, which added that 15.9 per cent of marine species and 13.4 per cent of terrestrial species are in danger. On March 25 this 12 months, Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister for Atmosphere, Forest and Local weather Change, informed the Lok Sabha that between 2014-15 and 2023-24 an astonishing 1.7 lakh ha of forest land had been authorised for non-forestry functions, together with infrastructure tasks.
“Critically endangered” species in India
Certainly, India’s “critically endangered” wild species on the Pink Record of the Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) embody each animal group and in addition crops: the practically extinct nice Indian bustard; the herbaceous Indian nard that has been over-harvested for medicinal use; gharial, the fish-eating crocodile; the “Kashmir stag” or hangul that’s threatened by poaching and armed exercise; the Indian swellshark usually killed by shrimp trawlers; and the iridescent peacock tarantula that’s prized within the worldwide pet commerce.
And it isn’t simply wild species which might be dying out: total ecosystems are. Open habitats resembling grasslands, semi-arid landscapes, and deserts and in addition croplands, grazing lands, and fallow land have suffered a historical past of neglect. They’re usually transformed into plantations or “forests”, based on the State of India’s Birds report, 2023, which aggregates information uploaded by birdwatchers on the eBird website.
As an illustration, lower than 1 per cent of the nation’s grasslands is protected, the report stated, including: “Birds that reside in open habitats have declined tremendously.” These embody the good gray shrike, which has declined by a staggering 80 per cent over 25 years; the critically endangered nice Indian bustard; and the lesser florican, the smallest chicken within the bustard household.
It’s the very “openness” of those habitats that makes them susceptible to “the unfold of invasive, drought-tolerant woody crops, in addition to wind generators and energy traces”, stated the report, which relies on citizen science and produced by means of the partnership of 14 organisations, together with the BNHS, the Ashoka Belief for Analysis in Ecology and the Atmosphere, and the Wildlife Institute of India.
The lesser florican
It factors particularly to the lesser florican, which “has been declining extra precipitously” than the good Indian bustard “however has not acquired the identical conservation consideration”.
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Distinctive for the lengthy, ribbon-like feathers that flutter on both aspect of its head, the male of the species is understood for its peculiar breeding show: the little chicken leaps up vertically, a number of ft excessive, flapping its wings quickly because it calls. Now believed to quantity fewer than 1,000, down from over 3,500 some 20 years in the past, this chicken unsurprisingly went from being labeled as “threatened” in 1988 to “critically endangered” in 2021 within the IUCN Pink Record.
In the meantime, the NCI report that positioned India at virtually the very finish of its checklist of nations on conservation, made it to the Rajya Sabha in November 2024, and a predictably defensive response from Kirti Vardhan Singh, Union Minister of State for Atmosphere, Forest and Local weather Change, adopted.
The lesser florican, the smallest chicken within the bustard household and an inhabitant of India’s grasslands, has been declining extra precipitously than the good Indian bustard, however has not acquired the identical conservation consideration.
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The NCI rating “undermin[ed] the well-recognised efforts of India in land administration, threats to biodiversity, capability and governance and local weather change mitigation”, he stated, including that the index “has not taken into consideration the nation reported information [on] indicators and relied on many different sources resulting in [an] unrealistic NCI index”.
Main success tales in conservation
There have, nevertheless, been some main success tales, at the very least within the conservation of huge “charismatic” mammals. Tigers, which numbered 1,800 within the early Nineteen Seventies and had been predicted to go extinct within the nation by the tip of the twentieth century, are actually thriving with a inhabitants of greater than 3,600 in the present day, due to initiatives resembling Venture Tiger, stated the ecologist Raman Sukumar, honorary professor and nationwide science chair, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.
The Asiatic lion, which numbered simply 177 within the Nineteen Seventies, and was largely confined to the Gir Nationwide Park in Gujarat, is 674-strong in the present day. Talking to Frontline, Sukumar stated: “The one-horned rhinoceros, believed to have numbered about 600 within the Nineteen Sixties, was discovered solely in Kaziranga in Assam and some different locations resembling Jaldapara in West Bengal. Right this moment, the rhino inhabitants is over 2,600 in Kaziranga alone, other than important will increase elsewhere.” Equally, the elephant inhabitants, which numbered between 12,000 and 15,000 within the Nineteen Seventies, has grown to 27,000 in the present day, aided by initiatives resembling Venture Elephant.
Nonetheless, Sukumar identified that as these populations enhance, a recent administration problem has been created: conflicts between wildlife and other people. He stated: “Wild animals more and more destroy agricultural crops, prey on livestock, harm homes—and kill individuals. The march of growth that fragments or reduces pure habitats solely provides to this battle. We want a brand new coverage framework, with clear inhabitants targets, and scientific administration to minimise conflicts.”
He additionally stated {that a} nearer involvement of native communities and conventional information methods have to be included into these conservation schemes. In accordance with him, it is usually time that our conservation efforts shifted from these flagship species “to less-studied creatures, that are equally essential to the nation’s wildlife range”.
How N11’s story ended
The white-rumped vulture N11, launched into the wild final August, can be one such creature. However her story, sadly, didn’t finish properly. The chicken, first tentative in her new atmosphere, hovered round Tadoba for the primary three days after launch. She then took off: first on a 300 km journey to Raipur, Chhattisgarh, solely to show again to Maharashtra, after which north to Madhya Pradesh, west to Gujarat, and south to Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. So, in 5 months, this chicken travelled practically 4,000 km, throughout six States.
Cheetahs on the Kuno Nationwide Park in Madhya Pradesh. Because the reintroduction of those African huge cats in India in 2022, greater than 10 animals have died.
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On January 16 this 12 months, precisely to the day she hatched 4 years in the past, the chicken collided with an influence line in Pudukottai, Tamil Nadu, and died from electrocution. Issues are usually not trying good for the opposite captive-bred vultures launched both. Of the ten white-rumped vultures launched in Tadoba, solely 2 survive in the present day; the remaining succumbed to electrocution or simply went lacking, stated Bhaskar Das, a biologist with the BNHS.
“Rewilding” and its limits
However there have additionally been exceptional examples of “rewilding” in India, such because the conservation and reintroduction of the critically endangered pygmy hog, the world’s smallest pig, in Assam, stated T.R. Shankar Raman, a wildlife scientist with the Nature Conservation Basis. Thought to have gone extinct within the Nineteen Seventies, as many as 170 hogs have been captive bred and reintroduced in Assam’s protected areas since 2008 as a part of the Pygmy Hog Conservation Programme.
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He stated: “Ecological restoration is each a hopeful premise and a scientific strategy to regain authentic biodiversity and the ecological functioning of a habitat.” There are a number of methods to realize it. “Planting native timber in broken forests (reforestation), reviving grasslands, eradicating invasive species or monoculture plantations and rewilding an space by reintroducing misplaced animal species,” he stated.
Nonetheless, quick-fix “options”—resembling creating Miyawaki thickets, seed bombing, or random regreening—“are usually not restoration”, he added. Tasks resembling the continued cheetah introduction programme are additionally regarding as “they look like directed at a number of charismatic, giant mammals, whereas ignoring a number of different species and in addition the safety and revival of authentic ecosystems resembling grasslands”, Raman informed Frontline.
Finally, Raman warned, it is very important do not forget that we can’t destroy an ecosystem within the perception that “it could actually in some way be restored. Neither restoration nor rewilding can ever get well every little thing we now have misplaced.”
