What does your new documentary Vanishing Vultures convey?

Vultures are dying faster than Dodo. Of an estimated eighty lakh vulture population in India, only a few thousand are left. We conducted a study in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, where these birds are known to nest, and found only three white backed vultures, one of the endangered species. The others under threat are the slender–billed and long–billed vulture.

What are the major threats these birds face?

Pesticides and pain–killers like diclofenac which cattle consume

reach these birds when they feed on the carcasses. These toxic chemicals cause renal dysfunction in vultures killing them. A large number also die due to plane–hits.

How will a declining vulture population affect us?

These birds are nature’s scavengers. We are mostly a non-beef-eating country and there are around 50 crore cattle in India. Who will take care of the decaying carcasses if there are no vultures? Rotting cattle bodies could spread viruses and bacteria and affect human and animal health. The vultures work harder than all the municipal workers put together. Also, Zorastrians do not bury or burn their dead and offer it to the vultures. This religious practice too will be affected if vultures become extinct.

Pandey is a wildlife filmmaker and conservationist.

-Amrita Talwar