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By Chris Bowden, International Species Recovery Officer and Head of Vulture Programme For the first three days of my visit to India last month I was accompanied by New Internationalist journalist Graeme Green. I was impressed that he was interested in experiencing first-hand the stench, the packs...

Did you see the book reviews in The Times today? Tony Juniper, the former executive director of Friends of the Earth, has taken a long hard look at the cost of our impact on nature in his new book ‘ What Has Nature Ever Done for Us?’ The review in The Times says: “Take the Indian...

[Chris Bowden, vulture guru, reports from Bangladesh] The recent SAVE partners meeting in Kathmandu, Nepal successfully focused all 32 participants from four range countries on the priority areas for vulture conservation and reintroductions – the first time we've managed to get everyone...

Did you see The Guardian today? A new study by the Peregrine Fund found that just two years after diclofenac was banned in Pakistan, breeding populations of the critically endangered long-billed vulture at study sites had increased by up to 52%. This is fantastic news. It’s not the end of...

Ananya Mukherjee, Vulture Safe Zone Coordinator continues on her mission to inform and influence in India Advocacy on an International level at Delhi My trip began with a Symposium in New Delhi. It was an attempt to bring people on an international platform together to highlight the critically endangered...

By Ananya Mukherjee, Vulture Safe Zone Coordinator Advocating a diclofenac-free zone means influencing people’s thoughts and opinions to bring about a positive response in not using diclofenac for veterinary purposes. The change was initiated in May 2006 when the Indian Government banned the...

Sorry for not blogging earlier, but I have been busy in Nepal working with Bird Conservation Nepal on a number of vulture-related things. For instance, late last month it was time for the vultures at the Nepal Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre to have their annual health checks – and I was...

By Ananya Mukherjee, Vulture Safe Zone Coordinator We've so far identified three sites as provisional vulture safe zones - one in Uttarakhand (Ramnagar) and two in Uttar Pradesh. These areas are where we hope to release vultures back into their natural habitat. Things are heating up! Setting...

By Toby Galligan, Conservation Scientist Veterinary diclofenac is banned in India, but 30 ml vials (ideal for treating cattle) are still available under the guise of human use only. In other words, manufacturers are circumventing the ban . While trained veterinarians understand the vulture-diclofenac...

By Ananya Mukherjee, Vulture Safe Zone Coordinator Green fields, huge blue skies, dusty roads greeted us as we moved from Pinjore to Uttarakhand where we (my colleague Toby and I) set out to visit our first provisional vulture safe zone site around Ramnagar area. A conservationist, with a...

By Ananya Mukherjee, Conservation Scientist Starting my mission on ‘ Saving Asia's Vultures from Extinction ’ (like the one above), I have flown from one side of the Atlantic Ocean (Great Britain) to a place close to the west coast of India, Navsariya. It is about 620 km from the...

By Toby Galligan, Conservation Scientist It is the height of the breeding season for vultures in India. That means our partners from the Bombay Natural History Society are busy at the three Vulture Conservation Breeding Centres (VCBC) in northern India. My colleague Ananya and I have spent the...

By Toby Galligan, Conservation Scientist G’Day, My name is Toby. I am new to the RSPB, new to the Vulture Project and yes, I am an Aussie. I joined the RSPB’s Conservation Science Department in November last year to work exclusively on the South Asian vulture crisis. My...

Back a bit sore? Dealing with aches and pains is eased by the application of drugs like diclofenac ... and there’s every chance you’ve had some tucked away in the bathroom cabinet. It often comes as a surprise that this familiar and widely-used drug has been at the centre of one of the...

Did you catch ITV news this morning? A new study has found that diclofenac, a widely used pain killer, is linked to an increased risk of having a heart attack or a stroke. I was prescribed this drug a few months ago after a small operation on my toe, and very grateful I was for it too. But I might be...