Birds of Prey

A recent visit to the International Bird of Prey Centre at Newent proved to be a unique experience for me.

I was writing a new feature for BBC Gloucestershire as well as photographing the birds. While meeting Jemima Parry Jones (Director of the centre) I learned that she has been involved in a vulture conservation project in India for quite some time. There are three vulture species in India at present, which are on the verge of extinction from eating poisoned meat. The meat has not been poisoned deliberately, but the farmers have been treating there cattle with a cure all human drug called diclofenac, used in humans for the treatment of arthritis.

Link to vultures http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2006/05/vulture_update.html

Jemima is travelling to India this month on a conservation project to help save the vultures from extinction.

If their efforts fail, Asia will be faced with a catastrophe on a scale, which has never been seen before. The vultures keep the land clean and without them, parts of Asia will become death zones due to disease.