Context
- Electrocution from expanding power infrastructure is emerging as a major threat to India’s vultures, alongside earlier chemical threats.
- A 2025 official survey found vultures nesting at only 50% of historic nesting sites, indicating continued population vulnerability.
Vulture Population Crash: Diclofenac
- India’s vulture population fell 99.5% by 2007, from around 4 crore in the 1980s; white-rumped, Indian and slender-billed vultures were nearly wiped out.
- Diclofenac, an NSAID used for cattle, caused kidney failure in vultures feeding on treated carcasses.
- India banned veterinary diclofenac; aceclofenac and ketoprofen, among other NSAIDs, were also banned/restricted in 2023.
Ecological and Public Health Impact
- Vulture decline left carcasses exposed longer, increasing feral dog populations and contributing to rabies outbreaks.
- A 2024 American Economic Review study estimated that vulture decline increased human mortality by 4%, with associated damages of $69.4 billion annually.
Why Power Infrastructure is Dangerous
- Vultures’ large wingspans allow them to contact two conductors simultaneously or bridge energised and grounded components.
- Their tendency to perch on elevated structures, prefer open landscapes and congregate where food is predictable increases electrocution risk.
- Food-waste/carcass dumping near electrical installations can further attract vultures to dangerous sites.
- Persistent electrocution mortality could cause local population extinction.
Evidence of Electrocution
- A recent study found that relocating a livestock carcass dump 2.4 km away from high-tension infrastructure near Dehradun, Uttarakhand, may have prevented vulture electrocutions.
- An assessment under the State Climate Resilient Power System Development Project recorded electrocution of an Egyptian vulture and steppe eagles on medium-voltage lines, showing that the risk is not limited to high-voltage infrastructure.
- Electrocution is likely under-documented, as carcasses may be removed by humans or scavenged before detection.
Conservation Measures
- Separate carcass/feeding sites from power infrastructure—a low-cost, immediate intervention.
- Insulate conductors and increase the gap between energised and grounded components to prevent birds from bridging them.
- Install safe perches away from live electrical components.
- Incorporate avian-safe designs into power infrastructure, especially near settlements, feeding sites and vulture habitats.
