Drawing competition organised to mark Vulture Awareness Day in the Nilgiris

To mark International Vulture Awareness Day, a drawing competition to raise awareness among students and the public was organised at the Government Tribal Residential School in Bokkapuram in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) recently.

The event was organised in the run-up to International Vulture Awareness Day, celebrated on September 6. Events are organised every year in the Nilgiris, which is home to one of the last remaining viable populations of three species of vultures in Southern India.

As part of the competition, 50 students created artwork using only natural dyes made of wood charcoal, turmeric, leaves, flowers, coffee powder and clay, reflecting traditional methods practised by tribal ancestors, said M. Manigandan, a vulture researcher and one of the founders of Eco-Voice Trust, an NGO that works for vulture conservation, which organised the event along with the help of the Forest Department.

Mr. Manigandan explained to students that Mudumalai, particularly Moyar Valley, was a stronghold for vultures in South India. “While India had nearly one crore vultures in 1980, today 99.9% have vanished, largely due to the use of veterinary painkillers like diclofenac, nimesulide, ketoprofen, and aceclofenac. Although diclofenac is no longer available due to sustained awareness efforts, the continued sale of other harmful drugs remains a serious threat,” he said.

He also noted additional challenges that threaten the future of vultures such as habitat loss, scarcity of food, climate change, and poisoning of cattle carcasses.

Mr. Manigandan also stated that while the Tamil Nadu Forest Department has proposed a captive breeding programme to bolster the vulture populations in Mudumalai and Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve, that survival of the three species would continue to be threatened unless harmful drugs are banned and cattle poisoning practices are curbed. “Eco-Voice Trust has strongly urged that such breeding programs be implemented only after declaring the region a Vulture-safe zone. In South India, the Vulture safe-zone core area is Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. Within a 50 km radius of this core zone for vulture nesting sites, harmful veterinary drugs and retaliatory killings must be strictly controlled, and safe food availability should be ensured,” he added.

Signature campaign

To mark International Vulture Awareness Day, a signature campaign has been organised by Arulagam, another NGO working on vulture conservation in the region from September 5 to 7 at Rose Garden in Udhagamandalam and Moyar Dam near Masinagudi. S. Bharathidasan, secretary of Arulagam, called on people to support the campaign to safeguard the future of the vultures in the Nilgiris.