LUCKNOW: Over 25 vulture carcasses, presumably Himalayan Griffons, were found in an agricultural field in the buffer zone of Uttar Pradesh's Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR).
The DTR officials said on Thursday that the carcasses belonged to a protected vulture species under Wildlife Protection Act.
Consequently, the DTR authorities approached the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Bareilly, to ascertain the cause of death of the birds.
According to DTR buffer zone, deputy director and Divisional Forest Officer (North), Lakhimpur Kheri, Kirti Chaudhary, while 25 vultures were found dead, six others were found in an unconscious sate and with immediate medical intervention they were rescued and released only after being found fit to fly.
As per the DTR sources, the carcass of a few dogs was also recovered from the same field. It was suspected that the vultures died due to secondary poisoning.
The sources said that the villagers had allegedly put out some rice for the stray dogs laced with some pesticide or other poison. The dogs which had consumed the rice died, and the vultures are suspected to have then fed on those carcasses. The villagers targeted the stray dogs which had hunted goats in Dimraul panchayat, explained the sources.
On April 7, at around 8 am, the poison-infected dog carcass was eaten by vultures. Shortly after, the birds suddenly began to die and their carcasses piled up, said sources.
According to Chaudhary, a panel of three veterinary doctors--Dr Daashankar from Dudhwa, Dr Ankur and Dr Rajendra Singh--conducted an autopsy of 23 dead vultures while the carcasses of two more were sent to IVRI Bareilly for further investigation to ascertain the real cause of death. Even the viscera of 23 vultures was also sent to IVRI for analysis.
She claimed that after the post-mortem, poison was found in the viscera of the birds but it failed to ascertain the nature of the poison. The sample of rice found from the spot was also sent for investigation.