Rapid urbanization, destruction of habitat and rampant use of pesticides are some of the factors affecting the population of scavenging birds--------- Vultures in the sky are disappearing very fast. According to statistics of the Bombay Natural History Society, the vulture population has declined by more than 99% and is declining at a rate of more than 40% annually. Vibhu Prakash, the principal scientist for the vulture conservation breeding programme at the BNHS, revealed that there were about 40 million vultures in early 1980s. "But our survey in 2007 showed that there were estimated 11,000 white-backed vultures, 1000 slender-billed vultures and 44,000 long-billed vultures in India', Prakash said. Among nine species of vultures available in India, the white-backed, long-billed and slender-billed vultures are recognized as critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Rapid urbanization, destruction of habitat (primarily high-rise trees, where vultures go for nesting) and rampant use of pesticides are some of the factors affecting the vulture population. The vulture does not hunt living animals; it depends on carcasses of livestock and wildlife for their primary food supplement. These scavenging birds thus help in keeping the environment clean. A matured vulture needs almost 500 gm of meat everyday and the most common theory is that vultures die of eating toxic meat with high percentage of diclofenac residue. Scientists suspect that the diclofenac remains active for a longer period in the carcasses of those treated animals, which finally affects the vultures, as they consume the meat. The drugs cause dehydration of the vultures and soon they die of visceral gout and even kidney failure. "We found that over 75% of vultures, which were discovered dead or died of visceral gout, had diclofenac in their tissues," said Prakash.However, India banned the manufacture and import of diclofenac for veterinary purposes in 2006. But even then, there is suspicion that diclofenac made for human needs are being used for veterinary purposes. To preserve the vultures from being extinct, the BNHS propagates for captive breeding as the only viable option. "By bringing some vultures in captivity, the life of these vultures is saved and once they start breeding, they would augment their population. The vultures will be released back in the wild once we are sure that there is no diclofenac available in system," Prakash said. The BNHS has already taken initiatives for the captive breeding. With the permission from the ministry of environment and forests and support from a number of international organizations, the BNHS runs three vulture conservation breeding centres in India (at Pinjore of Haryana, Rajabhatkhawa of West Bengal and Rani of Assam). "The birds at Pinjore and Rajabhatkhawa were brought from different parts of the country. But those at Rani are largely from its own state. Fourteen slender-billed vultures at Pinjore and 12 slender-billed vultures at Rajabhatkhawa have been brought from Assam. Our objective is to have 50 birds of each of the three species at Pinjore and Rajabhatkhawa and 50 birds each of white-backed and long-billed vulture at Rani," disclosed the official. But there are people, who do not subscribe to the theory of captive breeding of vultures. Anil Kumar Chhangani, a wildlife expert from department of zoology, JNV University, Jodhpur also expressed skepticism at the process of vulture captive breeding as there is no such expertise among Indian organizations. He cautioned, "Authorities must plan well while selecting the breeding stock for captive breeding. Birds most suitable for the purpose should be selected, rather than unsystemati-cally and unscientifically collecting chicks from their natural habitat, disturbing natural breeding." Anil, who was associated with the IUCN Birds and Mammals Breeding Specialist Group reiterated, "The captive breeding should not be the only way to conserve vultures. A countrywide rescue programme for the vultures should be encouraged." Similarly, Soumyadeep Datta, an environmental activist argues that the captive breeding of vultures would result in nothing. "The matured vultures select their partners in the wild for breeding and the birds lay eggs in such a situation, which cannot be arranged in the captivity. Moreover, vultures are monogamous birds and they maintain the loyalty of conjugal lives till deaths. Only one egg is expected from a pair in one season. The caring mother continues its close bond with the baby till the chick attains maturity generally in five years. Vultures do not go for mating with other species," says Datta, who serves as the director of Nature's Beckon, an Assam-based environmental NGO. "Hence the indiscriminate lifting of chicks, as done by the BNHS people in Assam, from the nests would only disrupt the male-female ratio of the vultures. We suspect that collecting babies from the nests will put negative impact on the sex ratio and finally the population of vulture in our region," asserted Datta. The members of Nature's Beckon suspect that the BNHS people had started capturing vulture chick and adults in Assam since 2005. In the long period, they must have captured nearly 100 adult and semi-adult vultures and most of them were taken to the captive breeding centres of Haryana and West Bengal. Asad Rahmani, the director of the BNHS, has however denied allegation that removing some chicks from the nests would disrupt the sex ratio of vultures. He argues that the sex of any chick/young is random (except in some reptiles where it is temperature dependent). In every conception, there are equal chances that it could be a male or a female. In any large population of animals, this includes human being also, the sex ratio is statistically 1:1 (or 50:50). Rahmani also rejected the accusation that the BNHS people lifted nearly 100 adult and semi-adult vultures from Assam, saying "After proper permissions, we have taken less than 55 chicks, out of which 35 are at Rani Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre." ?