FYI, vulture populations in India are way down, suffering a 97% decline over the last 10 years, I understand. The reason? The drug diclofenac, a painkiller widely administered to cattle across South Asia, which is poisonous to the scavengers. In fact, it’s so toxic to the birds that fifty can die from eating a single carcass. These are birds that, however omnipresent they must seem, produce at best only a single egg each year. Without help, odds are against their survival in this region….
Think about India, its ecology, the human overpopulation and wandering cattle. Indeed, scavenging vultures are a key part of Zoroastrian death rituals, where dead bodies are left to the vultures atop towers.
A ban is promised. A replacement drug (meloxicam) is on standby.
And the outcome? For now, we wait. Just like with climate warming….