World Wild Federation (WWF) has launched a Vulture Restoration Project in collaboration with Peregrine Fund here on Thursday. While briefing to newsmen, the Project Director Uzma Khan said that there were a total of nine species of vultures found in South Asia and Pakistan has eight of them.
Four of the species from the group of Gyps vulture (Himalyan Griffon, White-backed Vulture, Long-billed Vulture and Slender-billed Vulture) were only found in Asia. The Peregrine Fund and Ornithological Society of Pakistan had studied to confirm that the vulture populations had been affected in Asian countries.
Over 1,600 dead vultures were recovered from field sites in Pakistan, of which 259 were recovered in a stage good enough for gross post-mortem inspection. Among these samples, the single largest cause of mortality, according for 85 percent of vulture deaths, was a condition called visceral gout, which was easily seen as a white, paste-like deposit on the surface of internal body organs. In birds, visceral gout follows kidney failure.
Royal Society for Protection of Birds, UK and Pretoria University, South Africa carried out some researches on Diclofenac and its potential alternatives on African White-backed vultures and similar affects as of Diclofenac on Asia Gyps were observed in this species.