1 week Ago By Express News Service
COIMBATORE: It is well known veterinary medicines used to treat cattle prove toxic and even fatal to vultures. As part of the conservation efforts, farmers who are living in vulture-populated areas in Tamil Nadu are being trained about the traditional safe ethnoveterinary practices to treat their sick cows. Members of Arulagam, an NGO working in vulture conservation for over a decade, have started imparting this training.
Speaking after the inauguration of the two-day annual vulture sprint meet at Hassanur in Erode district on Thursday, Arulagam secretary S Bharathidasan told TNIE they are giving practical training to the farmers to adopt traditional methods of healing cowpox and mastitis, which are the most common diseases, using pepper, betelnut, neem leaves, turmeric, etc. Often the drugs for relieving pain in cattle pose dangers for vultures when the latter feed on the cattle carcass left by owners near their agricultural fields. The NGO members appealed to pharmacy owners to clear Nimesulide drug stock to protect the vulture population.
"Though the drugs were banned by the central government three months ago, a few stores were found selling Nimesulide and other banned harmful drugs like diclofenac, aceclofenac and ketoprofen. At a time when the vulture population in the southern states touched 380 in the recent survey, the population will increase further if the pharmacy owners clear the drug stocks harmful to vulture," said Bharathidasan. The team led by Jabaz John, who is the coordinator of Arulagam, carried out a two-and-a-half-month survey in pharmacies in Erode and Nilgiris districts to check the availability of the banned drugs and realised most pharmacy owners are already aware of the ban.
"We need to create more awareness among the new pharmacies," John said. A survey was conducted in 45 pharmacies in Thalavadi, Sathyamangalam, Puliyampatti, and Gobi in Erode district and Masinagudi, Coonoor, Kotagiri, Gudalur, and Nilakottai in the Nilgiris district. Out of the total, 22 pharmacy owners stated that the drugs are not sourced, and 11 pharmacy owners stated they did not have stock, and eight pharmacies were found selling the banned drugs when the team enquired about the banned drugs to check the availability.
"During the study, we have found that veterinarians in Masinagudi in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) have also instructed pharmacy owners not to sell the banned drugs to farmers. The pharmacy owners are cooperating with us," said John..
