To increase the availability of food for vultures in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR), the Forest Department is allowing dead cattle from a goshala (cow shelter) located nearby to be left for the scavengers. The goshala is located in Mavanallah, in the MTR buffer zone.
The decision was taken after conducting a thorough study, along with field inspections. Medical records and veterinarians from the Animal Husbandry Department confirmed that the goshala was not using Non-Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drugs (NSAID) that are harmful to wildlife, including vultures. Mudumalai is home to three critically endangered, and one endangered, species of vultures.
B. Ramakrishnan, Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology and Wildlife Biology at the Government Arts College, Udhagamandalam, justified the decision.
“Consent was given only after visits to the goshala over a period of many months by researchers and Forest Department officials, after the perusal of their medical records, [and of] lists of drugs used to treat cattle, and after consultations with local veterinarians who treat the cattle there,” he said.
Mr. Ramakrishnan explained that the breeding success of a vulture pair depends on food availability in the region. “The breeding success of vultures can vary due to a number of factors, with the most important being food availability,” he said. A pair of mating vultures may even abandon their nest due to a lack of food, he pointed out.
Each vulture hatchling may stay within the nest for up to a year, and will be dependent on its parents’ frequent feeding.
“It is for this reason that this initiative may prove to be extremely important in helping to ensure that vultures in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve thrive,” said S. Bharathidasan, secretary of Arulagam, a conservation NGO which has been working on vulture conservation in the Sigur plateau.
According to him, each month, two or three of the cattle at the goshala die of natural causes. Only those cattle that die of old age and natural causes will be left to scavengers.
“The goshala is incredibly well-run and has maintained meticulous records for its cattle, which has made this effort even possible,” said Mr. Bharathidasan.
The carcasses will be left inside the huge property of the goshala itself, which is away from human habitation and has a regular movement of forest staff, said S.Manigandan, a research scholar studying vultures from the Government Arts College in Udhagamandalam.
He felt the initiative is extremely well-timed as the breeding season for vultures starts from November and extends to March.
MTR Field Director, K. K. Kaushal said other species of wildlife, such as wild boar, dhole and the striped hyena, would also benefit from the initiative.
