DAILEKH: The near-extinct vulture birds have started reappearing in the skies of Dailekh. The rare birds have been seen in and around the district 12 years after the district became free of use of diclofenac.
The district was declared free of diclofenac in 2066 B.S. The diclofenac is a drug used to cure pain and fever in cattle, but very fatal for the vultures that feed on the carcass of the animals that have been fed the drug, according to Acting Chief of the Animal Service Office, Dailekh Bhim Bahadur Bista.
It had been almost a decade that we saw vultures here but we have started to see them, and also laying eggs and hatching chicks in the nearby jungle, said ward chair of Thantikandh rural municipality-1, Nartam Bahadur Budha.
It is good that the birds will get rid of the cattle carcass. The felling of silk-cotton trees that the vulture bird use to lay eggs and breed their chicks is also believed to be a reason behind the declining number of the rare birds.
As a result, the Government has put a ban on felling of such trees. The only nomadic community of Nepal, the Raute use the wood from the silk-cotton trees to make wooden utensils and this should be prevented through public awareness, Bista said.
Of the nine species of vultures found in Nepal, Dailkeh is home to five species, according to Krishna Prasad Bhusal of the Nepal Bird Conservation Society. The vulture birds are an important indicator of the food cycle, environmental balance and bio-diversity.
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