The drug was banned in May 2006, but by then it had decimated 95% of these birds. Without the vultures, the Parsis have had to rely on man-made ingenuity. Photograph: Chris Hellier/Alamy Stock Photo ... A little over 10% of the Mumbai Parsi community now opts for … The Parsi community of the city — who leave their dead out in the open to be consumed by vultures and were facing problems with disposing their dead with the dwindling number of vultures in the city — are hoping to resolve the problem with an aviary to rear vultures. Mumbai- The Parsi tradition of keeping bodies in the Tower of Silence to be devoured by vultures was under threat as birds of prey had gone almost extinct in Mumbai. Vultures perched on one of the Towers of Silence in Mumbai, circa 1880. Mumbai (AFP) – Kaikobad Rustomfram always thought that when he died vultures would feast on his corpse, as is Zoroastrian tradition. About Parsi Tower. Generally when we hear the word Tower, Our thoughts brings some long standing vertical like structure, One like Rajabai Tower, which we generally refer and think of.But, here the Parsi tower of silence is a restricted hilly location of south Mumbai’s Malabar hill area which is a 55 acre wide spread surrounded by thick green trees and visibility is not their from surrounding. It’s epicentre is Mumbai where 45,000 of India’s 61,000 Parsi-Irani Zoroastrians live. The … Unlike in Iran, the problem faced by the Parsi people of India is that of a depopulation of vultures. So for centuries, the Parsis in Mumbai have relied on vultures to do the work — that is, until the entire population of vultures in the city vanished. Carrion birds, usually vultures and other scavengers would typically consume the flesh and the skeletal remains would have been left in the pit. And plunged the towers of silence – and an aging community – into seismic controversy. MUMBAI: Kaikobad Rustomfram always thought that when he died vultures would feast on his corpse, as is Zoroastrian tradition.But then the scavenging birds disappeared from India’s skies. Members of Mumbai's Parsi Zoroastrian community pray at Parsi gate, Marine Drive, for Abangan, a day dedicated to the reverence of water as an element of creation on March 24, 2019. A dakhma, also known as the Tower of Silence, is a circular, raised structure built by Zoroastrians for excarnation – that is, the exposure of dead human bodies to the elements for decay in order to avert contamination of the soil with the corpses. The decline in the vulture population was a result of the scavengers feeding on the carcasses of livestock that were given Diclofenac, a type of painkiller. This caused the vultures to suffer from irreversible kidney failure, causing their deaths. But then the scavenging birds disappeared from India’s skies. It proved toxic for the vultures feeding on bovine carcases. In this photo taken on May 10, 2016, a Parsi priest conducts a funeral service at a prayer hall in Mumbai. For Zoroastrians, burying or cremating the dead is seen as polluting nature. Man-Made Alternative Poses Problems. MUMBAI: A woman has ignited a furious row over the centuries-old tradition of using vultures to dispose of the dead by sending gruesome pictures of rotting corpses to hundreds of homes. Now, the Bombay Parsi Panchayet has decided to import and begin breeding vultures, on …