Why in News
The Union Environment Minister led the International Vulture Awareness Day 2026 celebrations on 6 September 2026. The day falls on the first Saturday of September each year.
Key Points
- The collapse: India’s Gyps vulture populations collapsed from tens of millions to near extinction from the mid 1990s. The cause was diclofenac, a painkiller given to cattle. Vultures that fed on treated carcasses suffered fatal kidney failure.
- The ban: India banned the veterinary use of diclofenac in 2006. Later restrictions targeted other toxic veterinary drugs such as aceclofenac and ketoprofen.
- Conservation effort: The Vulture Action Plan guides recovery through captive breeding and safe zones. Conservation breeding runs at centres such as the one at Pinjore, Haryana. Several Indian vulture species remain Critically Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
- Ecological role: Vultures are scavengers that clear carcasses. Their loss raised feral dog numbers and disease risk.
Prelims angle
- The diclofenac link to the vulture decline; the 2006 veterinary ban; Gyps species and their Critically Endangered status; vultures as scavengers in the food chain.
[2012] Vultures which used to be very common in Indian countryside some years ago are rarely seen nowadays. This is attributed to
(a) the destruction of their nesting sites by new invasive species
(b) a drug used by cattle owners for treating their diseased cattle
(c) scarcity of food available to them
(d) a widespread, persistent and fatal disease among them.
