Rituals honoring the dead are being threatened in India due to a sharp decline in the vulture population. The issue is the poisoning of these birds, explains the newspaper El Español.
Held for millennia in Parsi communities, in Zoroastrian ceremonies the dead are placed in structures called dakhma (towers of silence). These circular, elevated buildings are designed so that the corpse does not contaminate the sacred elements of earth, fire and water. According to tradition, the corpses are placed at the top of these towers, where they decompose naturally and vultures and other birds of prey devour the flesh. Then, the bones are collected in the center of the tower, where rainwater, coal and sand make them disappear until they are taken to the sea.
The person responsible for the indiscriminate death of vultures in the region of India and Pakistan is the anti-inflammatory drug Diclofenac. A substance administered en masse to farmed animals and which, once dead, reaches the bodies of vultures through ingestion of the carcass. Painful swelling, inflammation and kidney failure are the symptoms that affect these birds. As a result, 97% of the three main vulture species in these regions have already disappeared.
Due to the situation, members of the Parsi community have chosen to cremate or bury their loved ones, thus renouncing tradition.
