Vulture Populationsโ Face Renewed Threat from Veterinary Drugs,โ Despite Bans
Madrid/Cambridge – A new warning from conservation biologists highlights the continued use of toxicโ veterinary anti-inflammatory drugs in Europe,โข threatening vulture populations decades after similarโ drugs caused a catastrophic โขcollapse in Asia. Research โขpublished September 4th in the journal Science โ revealsโ that despite bans implemented โขnearly 20 โyears ago in Asia, these โharmful drugs remain in โuse, posing a โฃrisk to โthese vital scavengers.
The crisis began in โคthe 1990s in India,โข where scientists observed a dramatic and unexplained declineโ inโข vulture โฃpopulations. Within a few years, over 95% of โขvultures vanished from the Indian subcontinent. The cause remained a mystery until โข2004,whenโค researchers identified diclofenac,a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory โdrug (NSAID) commonly used to treat โcattle,as the culprit.
The drug’s toxicity to vultures is indirect but devastating. Diclofenac is โadministered to livestock to alleviate fever and โคpain. In South Asia,and alsoโ in partsโ of โขEurope like Spain,livestock carcasses are โoften left in the open,providing a food source forโฃ vultures. When vultures consume the remains ofโข animals treated with โdiclofenac, they โขsuffer kidney failure and visceral gout, leading to death.โ While specific feeding stations exist in some European countries, the continued use of the drug presentsโค an ongoing threat.