The Gurungs (Lowa) in the Upper Mustang region cut the body into pieces and feed it to vultures with the belief that vultures guide the departed souls to heaven if they were fed with the body of the dead persons.
With falling numbers of vultures, the Gurungs believe that the available vultures cannot eat all the pieces of the body thereby failing to guide the soul of the dead person to the heaven.
“Vultures are a species of bird that lays only one egg. And it takes 9-10 months for vultures to grow up their chicks,” said Amdung Lowa (Gurung), adding that the Gurung’s death rituals have also been threatened along with the existence of vultures in the region.
He said they have been forced to think of alternatives to the age-old rituals of cutting the body into pieces and feeding it to the vultures.
According to a study, population of Himalayan vultures went down by 30 percent in between 2005 and 2008.
Ornithologists say eight kinds of vultures are found in Nepal. They say temperature rise due to global warming has affected the egg hatching time of the Himalayan vultures, thereby forcing the birds to migrate to places suitable in terms of food and environment.
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