Poisoning, veterinary non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), food scarcity, and habitat loss remain survival challenges for vultures in India.

A decade-old study, published in the latest issue of the Journal of Threatened Taxa, suggests that moving a livestock carcass dump 2.4 km away near Uttarakhand’s Dehradun may have saved these large scavengers from another existential threat—electrocution.

The authors of the study are Javed Anver, Yash Vardhan Singh Sengar, Bikash Ghimire, Vonchano Ngullie, Hemam Rama Nanda, Tashi P. Dorji, Ankit Sharma, Akshay Jain, Sas Biswas, Arun Kumar, and M. Muzahed.

Vultures are among the most threatened birds globally, having undergone severe population declines across Asia and Africa due to multiple anthropogenic pressures. According to the study, electrocution from power infrastructure has been the most underreported threat.

The study documented electrocution mortality of vultures in the Sudhauwala region of Dehradun, based on 34 surveys conducted between May 2011 and February 2014. The study recorded 743 individual vultures belonging to five species.

“During the study period, 46 vulture carcasses attributable to electrocution were documented in proximity to high-tension power transmission structures. The highest proportion of mortality relative to observations was recorded for the Himalayan griffon (Gyps himalayensis), followed by the Eurasian griffon (Gyps fulvus), and the cinereous vulture (Aegypius monachus),” the study said.

Lower mortality

“Although surveys were conducted on a non-systematic basis, the number of mortality events observed suggests that electrocution may represent a significant localised threat, particularly for long-lived scavengers such as vultures,” it said.

Based on these observations, the local authorities relocated the carcass dumping site about 2.4 km away from the high-risk electricity infrastructure in April 2015. Subsequent observations indicated continued use of the new site by vultures, with no mortality events recorded during limited post-relocation monitoring.

Other raptor species, including the black kite (Milvus migrans) and crested serpent eagle (Spilornis cheela), were also recorded at the relocated site along with the vultures.

“Our findings indicated that relocating carcass dumping sites away from hazardous power infrastructure can be a practical conservation measure for reducing electrocution risk and could potentially be applied in other affected areas,” Mr Anver of the Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India told The Hindu.

Although no studies were conducted after 2015, the carcass dumping site relocation demonstrated the potential of this approach as a practical measure to mitigate vulture mortality.