siswan dam mohali a lethal combination of drought in the shivalik foothills behind the tricity and the wanton killing of sambar fawns by stray dogs from neighbouring villages has had a positive spinoff for endangered resident and migratory vultures dogs are killing more sambars that they can eat at the vulnerable water holes and check dams which are receding by the day an unprecedented number of vultures have flocked to these parched water holes and taken advantage of the safe food the sambar carcasses which are naturally free of the veterinary drug diclofenac and other antiinflammatory drugs administered to ailing cattlethe concern for diclofenacfree zones for vultures in the tricity region arises from the release of six captivebred and criticallyendangered whiterumped vultures from the haryana governmentbnhs jatayu conservation breeding centre pinjore last october in fact one of these released vultures was tracked by satellites feeding at the drying siswan dam a hotspot currently for vultures due to the abundance of sambars killed by packs of domesticated dogs from neighbouring villages wildlife photographer pushkar bali noted that there were just 45 vultures at siswan last summer but this year i have seen 30 at one time due to an abundance of sambar carcassesthe summer of 2021 has witnessed dams and jungle waterholes drying up rapidly in the foothills due to an abnormal paucity of rainfall in preceding months while welcoming the safe food available to vultures bnhs deputy director and pioneering vulture scientist dr vibhu prakash struck a note of warning dogs are causing immense harm to wild species they not only kill sambars but severely disturb birds that nest along water banks or forage around water bodies dog packs harass birds like peacocks that come to drink water in acute summer habitats for wildlife are shrinking dramatically and dogs are adding immensely to the destruction of species dr prakash told the toias long as dogs are killing sambars and the forest and wildlife departments are doing precious little to counter dog massacres the carcasses of sambars do benefit vultures these magnificent avian scavengers have declined drastically by feeding on cattle carcasses that retain diclofenac residues but there are cases where the haryana forest departments wildlife wing has been quietly burying dozens of sambar carcasses denying vultures the safe food we are sensitive to water shortages at wildlife points and have been refilling the drying holes however we will ensure that the staff is sensitised to any waterhole that we may have missed and needs to be filled we will also sensitise the field staff to leave sambar carcasses in the open for vultures m l rajvanshi chief conservator wildlife panchkula told toithe array of vulture species feeding on sambar carcasses at the drying water points is dominated by the himalayan vulture but the rare cinereous or king vulture has also been observed dogs and vultures have long shared a close association while feasting on carcasses vultures carefully watch a carcass before coming down to it when vultures see that dogs