MOST people might view vultures as ugly birds, but wildlife experts based in the Forest are trying to protect them following a dramatic decline in numbers in India.

Cattle medicine has been blamed for almost wiping out three species of Gyps vulture, and the International Birds of Prey Centre (IBPC) in Newent is spearheading a project to breed the endangered bird.

The decline has seen a huge rise in the number of feral dogs carrying rabies in India, which has the highest percentage in the world of people dying from the disease.

Vultures play a vital role by cleaning up carcasses which would otherwise rot and spread disease. But the drug Diclofenac in the dead cattle, which is also prescribed to humans as an anti-inflammatory, is poisoning the birds.

The WWF says numbers have undergone dramatic declines of up to 99 per cent on the Indian subcontinent, and the bird is now listed as critically endangered with a 50/50 chance of extinction.

IBPC chief Jemima Parry-Jones, who travels to India to help with the project, warned that rabid dogs had moved in to fill the gap left by the vultures and were spreading disease.

While Diclofenac has been banned, other similar drugs are still proving toxic to the birds.