Human-induced mortality an overlooked threat for raptors in Nepal

Abstract

Summary Raptors play a unique role in ecosystem services and are regarded as effective indicators of ecosystem health. In recent years, varieties of anthropogenic factors have threatened the majority of raptor species worldwide. Nepal is considered a global hotspot for threatened and declining raptor species, but there is limited information on the direct human threats to the raptor populations living in the country. In this paper, we identify important anthropogenic threats to raptors in Nepal based on raptor mortality data collected by powerline surveys and from monitoring of GPS-tagged raptors, complete various reports, and social media. We found that powerlines, poisoning, and persecution, mainly shooting, are significant threats to raptors in Nepal that were largely overlooked previously. We report 54 electrocuted raptors affecting eight species, 310 poisoned raptors of 11 species, and five persecuted raptors of four species; among them vultures are the most affected (>88%). Based on our findings, to safeguard the future of Nepal’s raptors, we propose the retrofitting of power poles and the use of flight diverters on powerlines in the most affected areas to reduce raptor interactions with powerlines, as well as an effective conservation education programme to prevent the use of unintentional poisoning.

Scaling up Vulture Safe Zone to conserve a greater number of Endangered raptor species: A case for creating a Raptor Safe Zone in Nepal

“…Of the 892 species reported from Nepal, a little more than 9% (83 species) are raptors, but 22% of all threatened bird species in Nepal are raptors (DNPWC & BCN 2022). There are 28 threatened raptor species in Nepal (Inskipp et al 2016;Subedi et al 2023).…”

“…However, there are also commonalities between the threats perceived by many raptor species. Challenges such as lack of education and awareness (DNPW & DoFSC 2023;McClure et al 2023), land management (McClure et al 2023, poisoning ( e.g., NSAIDs and other poisons; Oaks et al 2004;Subedi et al 2023), infrastructure related (e.g., electrocution; Subedi et al 2023), persecution (Subedi et al 2023), habitat destruction (e.g., logging;McClure et al 2018), and agriculture and aquaculture practices (McClure et al 2018) can be addressed through a single-window approach such as RSZ. A key first step would be to identify the different threats for raptors in the proposed RSZ and create a plan to address those threats.…”