India’s vulture crisis, where the population was destroyed by almost 99% in less than two decades, leading to many fatal and significant consequences, is an important incident to learn from. The impact that humans have had on wildlife is not really news to anyone.
We live in a time when climate change is a very big reality, and its escalation is only getting bigger and bigger. This, of course, has impacted many things, including wildlife, where deforestation, human habitation, construction, poaching, hunting, and many other acts have led to several hundred species going extinct and many more entering the endangered list practically every year. But what was this vulture crisis in the country, and how did such a large number of the species suddenly get wiped out?
What Happened To The Vultures?
Vultures are not the most popular of birds. Not having the wise personality trait of the owls, nor the beauty of parrots, nor the sweet sounds of the mynah, nor the fierceness of eagles, they are instead depicted in most forms of media as something to be feared and kept away.
In the Hindu text Ramayana, Jatayu, a vulture, is shown as a symbol of bravery, sacrifice, and loyalty. However, in most popular media, they do not have a very positive connotation.
The vulture crisis in India did end up proving how important these birds are to our environment and humans themselves. India had a pretty impressive vulture population, with numbers being around 40 to 50 million. However, as per the University of Chicago’s research, the country saw a crisis where 99% of vultures died between 1990 and 2007. The reason for this was a simple drug called Diclofenac, most commonly used by vets to treat livestock.
The drug was liberally used for cattle during the 1990s in India, but it ended up being extremely fatal for vultures. What happened is that when the cattle were given this drug, a residue would remain in their bodies even long after the livestock’s death. The vultures would thus ingest this drug when they fed on the cattle carcasses. Now, where Diclofenac was helpful to cattle, it ended up being practically deadly for vultures, resulting in them developing acute kidney failure and eventually leading to death.
The reason for the mass use of Diclofenac, as per a 2024 TOI report, is due to the patent over the drug expiring in 1993, which led it from being controlled by the Swiss pharmaceutical firm Ciba-Geigy (now Novartis) to being developed by generic Indian manufacturers who lowered the price drastically.
So not only did the medicine become cheap, but it was also widely available and worked fast, taking around 15 minutes.
According to the report, farmers would use it to treat injuries, inflammations, and fevers in wounded or sick animals. By 2007, several species saw an alarming decline, marking one of history’s most rapid declines for any bird species. The ones that saw the biggest decrease in numbers were:
- White-rumped vultures (Gyps bengalensis): 99.9%
- Indian vultures (Gyps indicus): 95%
- Slender-billed vultures (Gyps tenuirostris): 97%
The drug was ultimately banned in 2006 in the country; however, as with anything banned, there is still reported illegal usage of it.
Read More: Watch: The Story Of The Superwoman Who Saved A Native Assam Bird From Being Extinct
Impact On Indian Healthcare
The large-scale wipeout of these vultures didn’t go without any consequences, though. In fact, the steep decline in the vulture population ultimately affected the health of humans themselves, with almost 100,000 people dying over five years from 2000 to 2005, according to a study published in the American Economic Association journal.
Researchers Eyal Frank of the University of Chicago and Anant Sudarshan of the University of Warwick, in a paper called ‘The Social Costs of Keystone Species Collapse: Evidence From The Decline of Vultures in India,’ stated, “The functional extinction of vultures increased human mortality by over 4%.”
Their study compared districts that had a high vulture population and those with low numbers with the human death rate and other health metrics, both before and after the vulture crisis. The result found was that areas that used to have a high vulture population, after the collapse, saw a 4% increase in death rates. They also claimed that the reason for this alarming rise in deaths was due to an impeded spread of deadly bacteria and infections leading to diseases.
Vultures, said to be nature’s sanitation workers, are an important part of our ecosystem. The study’s co-author, Eyal Frank, said, “Vultures are considered nature’s sanitation service because of the important role they play in removing dead animals that contain bacteria and pathogens from our environment; without them, disease can spread. Understanding the role vultures play in human health underscores the importance of protecting wildlife, and not just the cute and cuddly. They all have a job to do in our ecosystems that impacts our lives.”
Since they consume dead animals, this prevents their bodies from leaking bacteria and pathogens into the environment and drinking water. The lack of vultures also leads to an increase in the population of stray dogs, thus inadvertently increasing rabies cases, especially for humans.
Frank and Sudarshan’s study claimed that vultures are the ultimate scavengers, consuming a 385 kg cow down to its bones in just 40 minutes. This speed and efficiency are not seen in other animals like dogs or rats, which do not clean the carcass as required, leading to the flesh rotting on the bones and carrying rabies as well.
Anant Sudarshan told CBS News, “In a country like India with prohibitions on eating beef, most cattle end up turning into carcasses,” and how “vultures provide an incredible disposal service for free. A group of vultures takes about 45 minutes to turn a cow carcass into bone.” So, just imagine the amount of livestock carcasses the vultures were cleaning up. With the vultures gone, animal landfills started to fill up.
According to a 2024 Economic Times report, the lack of vultures to properly dispose of dead livestock led to farmers disposing of the bodies in waterways, thereby polluting them and contributing to the spread of diseases.
That was not all; though, there was even an impact on the Indian economy where the leather industry was severely impacted, and economic losses between 2000 and 2005 were estimated to be around £69.4 billion annually.
The Parsi community was also affected, having to change their funeral practices, which were earlier dependent on vulture scavenging. With these birds practically gone, they had to find alternate routes.
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: News18, BBC, The Indian Express
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This post is tagged under: Vulture, Vultures india, Vulture india population, indian animals, animals, wildlife, indian wildlife, India Vultures Diclofenac, Diclofenac effect on vultures, Diclofenac in vultures, Diclofenac indian vulture, India Vultures crisis
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