Subsequently, the tissues were analysed for thirteen NSAIDs and paracetamol. Tissues were screened for a set of toxic pesticides, and none of them was at detectable level.
After post-mortem examinations, tissues of all four vultures were received for toxicological investigation at the National Centre for Avian Ecotoxicology, SACON. During 2019, there were two known separate incidents of white-rumped vulture mortality involving four white-rumped vultures in Gujarat. Environ Toxicol Pharmacol 23:254–255.Population of white-rumped vulture has not recovered in India to a desired level even after diclofenac was banned in 2006. Bird Cons Int 22:389–397Ĭuthbert R, Pain DJ, Green RE, Swan G, Swarup D (2006) Comparative toxicity studies of NSAIDs in birds: a criticism of Reddy et al. Ĭhaudhry JMI, Ogada DL, Malik RN, Virani MZ, Giovanni MD (2012) First evidence that populations of the critically endangered long-billed vulture Gyps indicus in Pakistan have increased following the ban of the toxic veterinary drug diclofenac in South Asia. īusiness standard (2020) dated 13th April 2020. J AOAC Int 86(2):412–431īirdLife International (2020) Species factsheet: Gyps bengalensis. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.Īnastassiades M, Lehotay SJ, Štajnbaher D, Schenck FJ (2003) Fast and easy multiresidue method employing acetonitrile extraction/partitioning and “dispersive solid-phase extraction” for the determination of pesticide residues in produce.
Further, an effective system is recommended to be put in place to collect the tissues of dead vultures for toxicological investigations and eventual conservation of the critically endangered species.Įndangered species Forensic analysis NSAID Pesticide Toxicological investigations Vulture. Hence, it is recommended that nimesulide should be banned by the government to conserve white-rumped vulture in the Indian subcontinent. Since, nimesulide appears to act similar to diclofenac in exerting toxic effects, if veterinary use of nimesulide continues, white-rumped vulture are bound to suffer. Although, other than diclofenac, many NSAIDs are suspected to be toxic to white-rumped vultures, only nimesulide is reported in the recent past with clear symptom of gout in wild dead white-rumped vultures similar to diclofenac. Residues of nimesulide in tissues with symptoms of gout indicated that the vultures died due to nimesulide poisoning. Visceral gout was also observed in all the four vultures during post-mortem. Of all the drugs tested, only nimesulide was detected in all the tissues (17-1395 ng/g) indicative of exposure.
Population of white-rumped vulture has not recovered in India to a desired level even after diclofenac was banned in 2006.