THE LAST VULTURE
“To save the vulture the time is now, if not now then these are
our THE LAST VULTURE”
THE LAST VULTURE is India’s first dedicated vulture sighting
safari, enabling people to understand their distribution near the
city referred to as “The City of White Tiger”, Rewa. My aim with
this project is to encourage people to watch these giants in their
full glory by observing their flight, roosting area, nesting area,
and feeding grounds in one of the most beautiful landscapes of
central India. Vultures are interrelated to the active wildlife of a
particular area which plays a critical role in why vultures are
thriving and breeding. Awareness is the key to saving these species
from extinction and a slight mistake can lead to a total wipeout of
these colonies. Putting the effort to save one such colony of as
many as 70-80 vultures is showing positive signs.
Vultures are one of the finest cleaner species of nature helping to
reduce the deadly infection, viruses and bacteria from venturing
into the human body through dead animals and birds. These species
have a strong acid in their stomach that can clean the infected and
rotting meat from any foreign infection or bacteria. There are 9
species of vulture found in India and each vulture has a defined
role in the ecosystem feeding on different parts of the carcass.
Some vultures feed on fresh meat, some on rotting flesh, some on
organs and some on bones. This relationship of vultures was
disturbed when the veterinary drug diclofenac wiped out almost 99%
of the vulture number in India. This mishappening led to the
isolation of the vulture population into small fragments, most of
which are near very inhabitable regions. Very few NGOs and people
are working toward conserving these species. The population is so
scarce and distributed, that we have to come together to start by
knowing more about such isolated pockets to enable these species to
thrive again.
It's certain after COVID waves that anything small like a virus can
wipe out millions of people that originated from animals. These
vultures are a necessary part of our ecosystem to check such virus
contact before it reaches human settlements. I bet they are saving
us from hundreds of such deadly viruses and bacterial infections
every day. The commitment to conserve these vultures is now, as out
of 9 species found in India, four species are critically endangered
and one is endangered as per the IUCN red list. Let’s come together
to enjoy these giants in full glory and contribute to saving our
nature and specifically the vultures.
“Let the vulture be our new culture, let the culture thrive”