{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-572d6a42.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-f4d0de30.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='Numbers of Oriental White-backed Vultures decrease sharply' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54c0cdd8eafeecae14d823' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54c0cdd8eafeecae14d823' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nNumbers of Oriental White-backed Vultures decrease sharply\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003eLahore, Changa Manga, 20 August 20071. Close of an Oriental White-backed Vulture (Gyps bengalensis)2. Mid shot group of vultures feedingLahore, 19 August 20073. Wide pan of Bund Road beef slaughterhouse4. Various of water buffaloes...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003eLahore, Changa Manga, 20 August 2007\u003cbr/\u003e1. Close of an Oriental White-backed Vulture (Gyps bengalensis)\u003cbr/\u003e2. Mid shot group of vultures feeding\u003cbr/\u003eLahore, 19 August 2007\u003cbr/\u003e3. Wide pan of Bund Road beef slaughterhouse\u003cbr/\u003e4. Various of water buffaloes awaiting slaughter\u003cbr/\u003e5. Various of men and boys at work inside slaughterhouse\u003cbr/\u003eLahore, 20 August 2007\u003cbr/\u003e6. Various of bottled veterinary diclofenac sodium preparations \u003cbr/\u003eLahore, 19 August 2007\u003cbr/\u003e7. Set up shot Dr. Awais-e Awan, Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) veterinarian\u003cbr/\u003e8. Cutaway buffalo\u003cbr/\u003e9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Dr. Awais A. Awan, WWF vet: \u003cbr/\u003e\"As far as the large scale is concerned, I think they are not aware of the dangers of this drug so the message should be carried out at mass scale to the grass root level so the dangers of that drug should be equally evaluated at the farmer level.\"\u003cbr/\u003eChanga Manga, 20 August 2007\u003cbr/\u003e10. People ride bicycles along narrow gauge railway line which runs through Changa Manga forest\u003cbr/\u003e12. Wide of WWF Vulture program aviary\u003cbr/\u003e13. Worker enters aviary door past WWF Vulture restoration project sign\u003cbr/\u003e14. Wide pan inside aviary\u003cbr/\u003e15. Oriental White-backed Vulture extending wings to enjoy a breeze \u003cbr/\u003e16. Vulture Restoration Project workers Faisal Farid and Wajid climb a ladder to observation position within aviary\u003cbr/\u003e17. Faisal opens viewing window to look inside aviary\u003cbr/\u003e18. Vultures seen from window\u003cbr/\u003e19. Faisal makes notes of his observations in a ledger\u003cbr/\u003e20. SOUNDBITE: (Urdu) Faisal Farid, WWF Vulture Restoration Project: \u003cbr/\u003e\"This is the last chance. The vulture is totally finished in the wild. This is the last chance for us to do something for this bird. God willing, we are very hopeful that they will be able to recover.\" \u003cbr/\u003e21. Faisal walking towards donkeys which are kept by WWF for a couple of weeks after purchase to ensure they are free of diclofenac sodium with UPSOUND: (English) Faisal Farid, WWF: \u003cbr/\u003e\"Now we are going to our alive food available here. We keep alive in our captivity donkeys for vulture feeding.\"\u003cbr/\u003e22. Donkeys\u003cbr/\u003e24. WWF worker Wajid enters vulture aviary through door wearing a long hooded coat that hides his face, a measure to prevent vultures recognising individual workers\u003cbr/\u003e25. Wide of Wajid entering aviary with bag of  donkey meat\u003cbr/\u003e26. Vulture looking from perch\u003cbr/\u003e27. Wajid putting food out\u003cbr/\u003e28. Wide of Wajid watched by vulture\u003cbr/\u003e29. Vultures inspecting meat from a couple of yards away\u003cbr/\u003e30. Close shot of vultures eating meat\u003cbr/\u003e31. SOUNDBITE: (Urdu) Faisal Farid, WWF Vulture Restoration Project: \u003cbr/\u003e\"We are very hopeful that, God willing, the environment we have provided here for them will encourage the vultures to mate, lay and hatch eggs and that new birds will emerge and the bird numbers will grow.\"\u003cbr/\u003e32. Close shot of vultures eating, pulls out\u003cbr/\u003e33. Vultures in a tree\u003cbr/\u003e34. Wide of a photographer watching vultures inside aviary\u003cbr/\u003eJust a decade ago vultures were a common sight on the Indian subcontinent, their numbers estimated in the tens of (m) millions. \u003cbr/\u003eFamiliar to everyone, they could be seen feasting on carcasses of road kill or sitting around in trees in city parks.\u003cbr/\u003eBut just 10 years on, conservation groups say the total population of the Oriental White-backed Vulture is down to less than ten thousand, possibly as low as 2, 500. \u003cbr/\u003eThe species is now listed as 'critically endangered' by the IUCN, the World Conservation Union (The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources). \u003cbr/\u003eNow a reserve in Pakistan hopes to protect the birds and establish a breeding programme. \u003cbr/\u003eThe Oriental White-backed Vulture, or Gyps bengalensis, was formerly one of the most common of the nine species of vulture found in the subcontinent.\u003cbr/\u003eBut since the 1990s, the decline of their population has been catastrophic. \u003cbr/\u003eBirds were dying in large numbers, and studies of their dead bodies showed gout in their intestines. \u003cbr/\u003eScientists couldn't find out what was causing the unusual gout.\u003cbr/\u003eCareful research by international teams eventually found their deaths were linked to the livestock industry.\u003cbr/\u003eIn Pakistan, as in nearby India and elsewhere in the world, livestock breeders strive to keep their animals healthy up to the time they are brought for slaughter.\u003cbr/\u003eVeterinarians treating their animals use a host of medicines to treat whatever conditions, cattle, sheep and goats are suffering from.\u003cbr/\u003eScientists found that residues of one particular drug commonly used to treat animals and humans too were present in the corpses of the dead birds they were analysing.\u003cbr/\u003eLater studies proved the vultures died within days of eating carcasses of animals tainted with that same drug, Diclofenac.\u003cbr/\u003eDiclofenac Sodium is a cheap and widely available anti-inflammatory drug which was commonly used on sick livestock in the Indian-subcontinent for the treatment of lameness and fever. \u003cbr/\u003eLobbying by environmental groups eventually led governments across the region to ban the veterinary use of the drug, in a bid to save vultures.\u003cbr/\u003eIn Pakistan, the ban was introduced in September 2006.\u003cbr/\u003eBut experts, like World Wildlife Fund veterinarian, Awais Awan, say that old stocks of the cheap and effective drug are still available over the counter in some veterinary supply stores in Pakistan where farmers can readily buy it. \u003cbr/\u003eHe is worried the few vultures left in the wild will also die unless everyone helps ensure Diclofenac doesn't get used.\u003cbr/\u003eThe Changa Manga forest, which lies around 70 kilometres (43 miles) south of Lahore in Pakistan's Punjab province, was once home to a large colony of white-backed vultures.\u003cbr/\u003eNo breeding pairs remain in the wild here now.\u003cbr/\u003eBut a special project launched in 2004 and managed by WWF-Pakistan hopes to change that.\u003cbr/\u003eA captive breeding programme has been set up with financial support from international donors, technical advice from specialists at The Hawk Conservancy Trust and strong local government backing.\u003cbr/\u003eThe programme hopes to replicate the success of a similar breeding programme in neighbouring India which in January 2007 saw the hatching of India's first ever vulture bred in captivity. (The chick, hatched Jan. 1, 2007  in a breeding centre in Pinjore, in northern India's Haryana state.)\u003cbr/\u003eThe Changa Manga Vulture Restoration Project so far has a total of 11 young birds: 7 male, 3 female and 1 of so far unidentified sex.\u003cbr/\u003eThe long term programme aims to rear vultures to maturity within a safe diclofenac free environment and as numbers grow to begin to release the birds back into the wild.\u003cbr/\u003eProject workers keep a careful eye on the birds from behind observation windows so as not to disturb the birds. \u003cbr/\u003eThe records of their observations indicate that the three females have already chosen males for pairing. \u003cbr/\u003eThe breeding season is approaching and Faisal Farid, the primary supervisor at the aviary is hoping an egg may be laid one day soon.\u003cbr/\u003eDiclofenac has lead to global population declines as high as 99 percent in vulture species. \u003cbr/\u003eTo ensure their precious birds aren't exposed, the Changa Manga vultures can't just eat any old meat.\u003cbr/\u003eDonkeys which have reached the end of their working lives are kept by the Vulture project for a few weeks to ensure that any diclofenac they may have been given in the past passes out of their bodies.\u003cbr/\u003eOnly then, when workers are sure they are diclofenac-free, can they be safely butchered and frozen for later use. \u003cbr/\u003eWorkers at Changa Manga wear long hooded cloaks when entering the aviary at feeding time. \u003cbr/\u003eThey are careful not to scare the birds which are remarkably cowardly given their size, which can be up to about 85cm (2.7 feet) \u003cbr/\u003eIn common with other vultures, Adult Oriental White-backed Vultures have downy almost bald heads and necks, more practical than feathers when being thrust into messy animal carcasses. \u003cbr/\u003eThe project team is doing all it can to try and help these vultures retain as much of their 'wildness' as possible, despite the necessary limitations of life in the large 38 metre (125 foot long), 6.4 metres (21 foot) high aviary.\u003cbr/\u003eTens of millions of vultures once played a key role in South Asia's ecosystem by disposing of carcasses, keeping down populations of stray dogs and rats that also feed on dead carcasses and can spread diseases among humans.\u003cbr/\u003eSince the introduction of diclofenac in the early 1990s, the subcontinent's population of three species of vultures has dropped by as much as 97 percent, according to Britain's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.\u003cbr/\u003eAlternatives to diclofenac are now available to vets and farmers. \u003cbr/\u003eMeloxicam has proved as effective as Diclofenac in treating livestock and is safe for vultures. \u003cbr/\u003eEliminating diclofenac will not do enough to revive the slow-breeding scavengers, and the success or failure of breeding programs will be critical in deciding the fate of the birds.\u003cbr/\u003eKeyword-wacky 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