Medical research has found an alternative drug to Diclofenac – Meloxicam, which has been tested with limited side effects on livestock. Of the 20,000 rabies cases recorded annually in India, 96% are from feral dog bites (Markandya et al., 2008). Feral dogs have increased India’s rabies incidence rate to the highest in the world – 60% of all globally-documented cases. By this calculation, the loss of one vulture would increase food availability for 0.7 dogs. One vulture consumes approximately 0.5 kg meat/day while a dog can consume about 5.0 kg meat/week.

Firstly, the reduction in vultures encourages feral dog populations that are attracted to carrion, as both species compete for easily obtained freshly dead meat. Another consequence is the spread of rabies due to the increase in feral dog populations, which are thriving on the carcasses that used to be consumed by vultures.įrom 1993 to 2006, indirect health costs due to vulture declines approximated $34 billion (Wildscreen Arkive, 2005). A lack of vultures increases the number of decomposing carcasses, leading to an increase in disease spread by parasites, flies, and ticks, as well as airborne diseases. The drastic decline in India’s vulture population poses a grave hazard to public health. Thus, while their role in nature is vital to maintaining the ecological balance, their very ecology is pushing several species further towards extinction. Vultures are also exposed to a higher concentration of contaminants as they feed on carcasses and/or waste products. Second, as vultures have a long lifespan and are at the top of the food chain, they are placed at a great risk of biomagnification 1. First, multiple vultures feed at a single carcass, causing large numbers of the species to be poisoned at a time if Diclofenac is present in the tissue of the carcass. Vultures are particularly vulnerable to poisoning from toxic substances due to their foraging behavior. White-rumped vultures tested in laboratories with minimal Diclofenac (0.8mg/kg) died within a few days from extensive kidney failure. This is a classified, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), which was cheap and widely available until its ban in 2006 due to its fatal effect on vultures. The widespread decline of vultures across South and Southeast Asia can be attributed to one main cause: the prolific use of the anti-inflammatory drug, Diclofenac, in treating livestock.

The decline of this species in India was first noticed in Keoladeo National Park, and a country-wide population decline was noted between 2000-2007. One of four vultures listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of threatened species, this vulture is now regionally extinct in China, Myanmar, and Bangladesh.

Once the most common large raptor in the subcontinent, the white-rumped vulture (Gyps bengalensis) has undergone a 99.7% decline over its home range.

White rumped vulture