The decline of eagles in India disrupts the burial customs of the members of the Zoroastrian religion
Sanjida O'Connell
Indian white-backed eagle. The cause of death: kidney and intestinal diseases
Members of the Zoroastrian religion in India cannot burn their dead, bury them or throw the bodies into the water. The body is an impure thing for them, and the Zoroastrian religion does not allow them to desecrate the four elements - air, earth, water or fire.
Therefore the members of the religion leave their dead as prey for the eagles inside the stone fortresses called "Towers of Silence", which were built about 350 years ago. This desert custom originated in Persia, the birthplace of the Zoroastrian religion, more than 3,000 years ago.
However, today this burial custom is in danger. The reason: a lack of eagles. India's vulture population has dwindled drastically. This presents the members of the Zoroastrian religion, who currently number only 76 people, a difficult problem, but also endangers India's already fragile environmental system.
The problem was noticed by Dr. Vibu Prakash, the chief scientist of the Bombay Nature Society. A survey conducted by Dr. Prakash in the Keolodeo National Park in Rajasthan showed that the number of eagles of two species - the white-backed eagle and the long-beaked eagle - had decreased by 96%. A national study conducted in 2000 confirmed Dr. Prakash's findings: in one area, the number of white-backed eagles was reduced from 21 thousand to two thousand within seven to ten years.
"Most people think that eagles' diet is based on pieces they steal from lions' prey. But in fact eagles hardly ever steal meat from predators. They find carcasses - animals that have died of old age, disease or malnutrition," says David Houston, a lecturer in zoology at the University of Glasgow.
Indian vultures therefore feed on dead cattle. And now, when their numbers have dwindled considerably, the cattle are left to rot in the heat. Talking can have serious consequences. For example, contamination as a result of the decay of corpses may seep into the groundwater and lead to the spread of epidemics, including anthrax.
The problem can also be global: more and more vultures from Europe and Asia migrate to India, and they may spread anthrax and other diseases to the Middle East, Europe and Africa. Whatever the cause of the depletion of eagles in India, it may migrate to the rest of the eagles in the world.
Recently, Dr. Debbie Payne, head of international research at the Royal British Society for the Protection of Birds, and Dr. Andrew Cunningham from the Institute of Zoology in London, began to investigate the causes of the decline of eagles. According to speculations, one of the reasons for the decrease in the number of eagles is the use of pesticides, which are laxly regulated. But Payne and Cunningham believe that the birds were not poisoned: the number of eagles in nature reserves has shrunk at a rate similar to that in unprotected areas, and post-mortems have revealed no traces of toxic chemicals. Instead, the researchers discovered that the eagles were suffering from kidney disease and intestinal disease, which could lead to their death within a few hours.
Today only about six eagles remain in the area of the Towers of Silence. To deal with three corpses a day, about 120 eagles are needed. To speed up the process of decomposing the bodies, the members of the Zoroastrian religion installed eight huge solar reflectors inside one of the towers. They also enlisted the help of Jemima Perry-Jones, from the Center for Birds of Prey in South West England. Perry-Jones, the only non-Zoroastrian to ever enter the Towers of Silence, now works at the site trying to increase the eagle population.
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