Food Chains

We teachers are always looking to make learning relevant and exciting. Last year I taught my Y8 class all about food chains; predator/prey relationships and the effect of disease on populations. The classic example used is Fox > Rabbit > Cabbages. Yawn. The kids understand well enough but to make a concept stick it needs to be exciting! A friend once told me that if you relate a lesson to a gruesome death of some sort (think about it, Henry VIII is everyone's favourite monarch) then kids will remember it forever; today I found just the ticket to spice up food chains in science classes...

Vultures. Pokhara used to be swarming in the giant birds of prey, but today it's the tourist paragliders who outnumber the soaring carnivores. Why? Well, a very interesting morning with Danny and his team at the Himalyan Raptor Centre in Maya Devi village explained all.

Vultures prey on eggs and tiny critters, but they're best known for devouring fresh carrion. And who can blame them, it's much easier than wasting energy on a lone mouse. But here in Nepal their favourite feast is being polluted by a drug given to livestock. The vultures are dying out in their thousands; their population is a just 1% of what it was 8 years ago, and the cause is the veterinary drug, Diclofenac. It's a simple anti-inflammatory, and a cheap option for the poor farmers to prolong the lives of their cattle; purchasing new ones is just so expensive that they'll do anything to hang on to their livelihood for as long as possible.

Eventually death does catch up with the poor old cow, and the vultures swoop in as nature intended. But within a matter of hours the birds die of liver and kidney failure; today the vultures are on the brink of extinction.

Another point to consider is what happens to the carcass of a dead cow. In Hinduism, the predominant religion of the region, cows are sacred, so consuming them is out of the question. The result is huge mounds of dead cattle which arise in out of town locations. With fewer vultures to strip the carcasses there has been a massive increase in the number of wild dogs who literally live and eat on these giant piles of flesh and bone. Of course the next problem is disease; Rabies is rife in this part of the world and is spreading amongst the dogs at an alarming rate, not to mention putting humans at risk too.

So what's being done to help? The good news is that Nepal's government has made Diclofenac illegal, but the black market is still teeming with it. The farmers are so poor that they can't afford to simply let their animal die, so they continue to administer the illegal drug ignorant of the tragic effect further up the food chain. It's a sad situation, and at present the vulture population is paying the price.

So enter Scott, Danny and their team of Parahawkers: a small part of the charity aiming to stop this decline, they run a unique organisation that's seen a way to help everyone. Their prey: tourists, and their aim: to stabilise the vulture population, and assist injured birds. How? Here goes...

The organisation aims to take in injured birds, nurse them back to health and release them back into the wild. For those that have been in care too long to survive in the wild, they are given a new strand of employment... Tour guides, of course. Parahawking is a sport unique to Nepal. It's paragliding with a trained bird of prey. The birds guide the paragliders to the best thermals on the mountains, and their reward is a small piece of buffalo meat given to them by the outstretched hand of the passenger! A truly unique experience and a privileged insight into the bird's world. The added advantage for the birds is that this daily outing keeps them flying fit in a way that most captive birds cannot enjoy.

So what does this mean for the vulture population? Well a proportion of the rider's fee goes straight to Himalaya Raptor Rescue (www.himalayanraptorrescue.com) who are striving to create a vulture safe zone around Pokhara. They aim to intercept sickly cattle before the farmers get the chance to administer Diclofenac. The farmer is given a new cow and the sick one is taken away to a safe place to die a natural death, giving the vultures get a safe and tasty treat, and importantly stopping the lethal drug entering the food chain.

Determined to be part of this great cause, not to mention fuelling Giles' passion for all things flighty, we both took to the skies this morning and experienced a once in a lifetime opportunity. To soar in the thermals, accompanied by Egyptian vulture Bob (partner in crime to Kevin seen in an earlier blog!), was breathtaking. Through using a simple whistle call which Bob has learned to associate with a buffalo meat treat, he soared between Giles and I, landing on our arm and taking a moment to rest and eat. The whole experience was pretty overwhelming: on the one hand the view of the Western Himalyas from the air; on the other hand, quite literally, an Egyptian vulture; and as if that wasn't enough, the serene feeling of soaring under a canvas wing for the first time amongst many other like-minded souls also giving this sport a try. The hardest part of the whole experience was calling Bob back down to the landing zone on the edge of the lake as he was clearly enjoying himself far too much.

So, lesson inspiration...
Paint the picture, get the kids to work out their own solution to the crisis. Perhaps design a Facebook banner ad explaining the problem. Perhaps even extend this to a campaign or an app. I'm doubtful that school trip budgets will extend to Parahawking, but at least it's a real example that illustrates a concept; further still it shows what real people are doing to stop the plight. Inspirational and educational all at the same time. Now that's my kind of lesson!

Pics:

Black kites being cared for by Danny and Tracey at the Raptor centre.

A little bit more meaty tidbit as a bribe, and back to base camp for Kevin.

The grins say it all.

Taxi for one vulture to the top of the hill please.

Pre-take off (after the nervous pee!).