The widely known Bangla proverb "the cow doesn't die at the wish of the vulture" may go extinct with the scavenging bird itself within a matter of years if the government does not stop the use of the banned cattle medicine Diclofenac, bird experts said yesterday.

The vulture wants the death of cows as interpreted in the proverb so that they could feed on their carcass. Ironically, it is the cow corpse, which is driving the scavenger towards total extinction from the country, they told a seminar, organised by the Forest Department in its auditorium on the occasion of "International Vulture Awareness Day" observed Saturday.

Vultures keep the nature clean by feeding on carcasses, especially that of the cow.

Since the use of Diclofenac Sodium, a drug widely used for treating common cattle diseases, started in the subcontinent a few decades ago, over 99 percent of the white backed

vulture popularly known as Bangla shakun have disappeared, the experts said. If the trend continues, vultures would not survive in the wild more than five years, they added.

In his paper, Dr Tapan Kumar Dey, conservator of forest (wildlife), cited that US researcher Lyndse Oak showed in 2003 that if vultures feed on the carcass of a cow treated with Diclofenac, it would damage the bird's kidneys immediately and send it to its death within 24 hours,.

"The vulture population in Bangladesh has dropped to only 500-600 today from over 50,000 in 1970. And the number is declining every day,” said Enam ul Haq, secretary general, Bangladesh Bird Club.

The government banned the production, distribution and use of Diclofenac Sodium in 2010 but pharmaceuticals have not stopped its production yet

and the medicine is still used widely.

The experts suggested an alternative medicine Meloxicam, which is as good as Diclofenac but does not kill vultures.

They demanded that the government encourage production of Meloxicam through subsidy and enforce strict monitoring on the use of Diclofenac.

There are six species of vultures in the subcontinent, all of which are facing extinction due to Diclofenac, the experts said.

Yunus Ali, chief conservator of forest, and Ishtiaq Uddin Ahmed, country representative of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), also spoke at the seminar, while Sheikh Mizanur Rahman, deputy chief conservator of forest, chaired it.