Vulture deaths threaten public health and environmental balance in India

The population of white-backed, slender-billed and red-headed vultures, essential to maintaining the health of the ecosystems in India Feeding on carrion, they have decreased by more than 95% in the last twenty years, taking with them the lives of thousands of people due to the continued degradation of the country’s ecosystem.

“More than 95% Of the three predominant species in India, there have been declines. These species range into Southeast Asia and are critically endangered, especially the red-headed vultures.”said a wildlife biologist, who preferred to remain anonymous to protect a study he is currently conducting on these scavengers.

With their shaved heads and black feathers, the animals, seen by experts as “nature’s clean-up crews,” are farmers’ best allies, especially when it comes to disposing of livestock carcasses.

A flock of vultures can devour a carcass in a matter of minutes, eliminating harmful and pathogenic bacteria that usually accumulate in the rotting remains of livestock, preventing the spread of deadly diseases.

The high acidity in vultures’ stomachs, up to a hundred times more acidic than that of humans, allows them to safely consume carrion without existing bacteria surviving in their digestive system, making them exceptionally efficient, according to a study conducted by the University of Chicago in February 2023.

Even their droppings can work as good disinfectants.

According to the study, vultures were once ubiquitous in India, with the population easily exceeding 50 million.

“As they became extinct, the ‘garbage collection services’ they provided also disappeared and the carrion was left out in the open for long periods of time, which generated a huge negative health impact,” the report points out.

The cause of deaths

In mid-2004, several species began to experience kidney failure, and within weeks, they began to die. A common painkiller – harmless to humans and recommended for treating diseases in livestock – diclofenac, was what was causing the extinction of the vultures.

“In the Indiacattle, like cows, are extremely important. They are revered, they are worshipped. Usually, when these animals die they are left in open areas for vultures to feed on. But now that vulture numbers have declined dramatically, there are no animals to scavenge or remove the carcasses from the ecosystem.“, said the expert.

The carcasses began to retain traces of the painkiller, which they passed on to the vultures as they fed, he said.

Following an uncontrollable increase in vulture mortality, the Indian government was forced to ban the veterinary use of diclofenac.

In 2006, the drug was banned in South Asia for use in animals. In light of this situation, some experts are asking the question of which animals will replace the vultures.

The expert from the Wildlife Institute of India said that in recent years, the substitutes for these animals have been stray dogs, which have seen their population double, although he believes that these birds do not have a good functional replacement in the ecosystem, since no other species can ensure the same sanitary conditions.

Stray dogs are less efficient

Currently, 52.5 million dogs roam the streets of India, the largest population in the world, according to the Pet Homelessness Index (PHI) of the multinational Mars Pet Care.

“Today there is a huge population of stray dogs. They have taken over the task of eating the remains, which was the responsibility of the vultures, and their system is not as protective, so there is a higher level of transmission of diseases, such as rabies,” said the specialist.

According to a study conducted by professors at the American university, between 2000 and 2005, the most critical years in terms of animal losses, there have been around 100,000 additional human deaths per year due to a major negative impact on sanitation.

Dogs and rats, which act as vectors of infectious diseases and are much less efficient scavengers, make the landfills of corpses “a breeding ground for diseases”highlights.

In addition, water becomes highly harmful, since, faced with the need to dispose of corpses, farmers see rivers as the best dumping grounds.

All these factors reflect the lack that “scavengers make in our society“, the expert emphasized.