Saving Species - Episode 12

12/40 We go to India in this edition of Saving Species to report on the last ditch efforts to save the [Griffon-like] Long-billed Vulture. Gillian Rice, our reporter in India, was told that this vulture has declined from around 40 million birds in the mid 1990s to just a few thousand today. We're told of a 99.9% decline in numbers - the fastest declining group of birds in the world. Three species of vultures have disappeared from whole areas of India, Nepal and Pakistan. In 2004 the drug Diclofenac was implicated in the vulture decline. The finger was pointed at this anti-inflamatory being used widely by vets and farmers in cows, and it was those vultures who scavenged the flesh of dead cows, still laden with this drug, that died. There could be a happy ending - but not yet. Right now there's a programme seizing some adult birds from the cliffs and bringing them into captivity to build a captive-born population for eventual release. The Bombay Natural History Society and the RSPB are involved - We'll bring you the story from India. Also, listen to next week's programme for part 2. We return to Microbes and the importance of these micoscopic life forms in the living world around us, including our health. And Brett has a close and noisy encounter with Pool Frogs in Norfolk. What are they and why are they important? Presented by Brett Westwood Produced by Mary Colwell Series Editor Julian Hector.