Figure 1: Vultures may become extinct in our lifetime due to a poisonous drug by Ramon

Elosegui. eBird.

Extinction of Vultures is Directly Proportional to Human Life

By Priyank Bhalodia

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Contents
Abstract 3
Risk factors for decline 4

Poisoning on three continents 5

Human impacts 6

Learning from the past 7

Solutions 7

Conclusion 7

References 8
Figures
Figure 1 1
Figure 2 3
Figure 3 5

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Abstract
Vultures are undeserved creatures in society. They're often seen as dirty, ugly scavengers,
congregating around dead or dying animals, but ecosystems rely on these birds, which have
many important roles. While their food choice is different than other birds, they're helping to
reduce the risk of spreading contagious disease by cleaning up carrion. Yet, vulture populations
in Africa and Asia have collapsed in the last few decades. The number of white-backed vulture
of India was so huge in 1980 that it was considered one of the most common scavenger birds in
the entire world. Now, just a few decades later, it is critically endangered after a 99.9 percent
decline.

Figure 2: Vultures scavenge a dead horse in Africa. Science news

Due to human activities, the natural habitat of vultures have been affected. Vultures need large
ranges to scan for food and undisturbed areas in which to nest. They also need an abundance of
prey species since they rely more on chance than their own hunting skills to eat. There is a huge
increase in poisoning. Vultures feed on carcasses laced with poison intended to kill jackals or
other predatory carnivores. Hunters also use lead as a poison in animals left behind for
carnivores. Diclofenac plays an important role in the decline of vulture population. Diclofenac is
a veterinary drug given to livestock which is toxic to vultures who feed on animals that die
naturally or are brought down by other animals.
PhysOrg reports, "Throughout Africa, vulture populations have suffered an alarming collapse in
numbers in recent years. In rural parts of West Africa some species have declined by over 95%,
while the famous Maisa Mara National Reserve has lost an average of 62% of its vultures over
the past three decades” (“Why vultures matter”).

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Aside from poisoning (both targeted and incidental) vultures are threatened by wind turbines,
food loss and poaching, habitat destruction and electricity pylons " (“Why vultures matter”). Of
the 23-vulture species of the world, 16 are considered near threatened, vulnerable to
extinction, endangered or critically endangered (“Why vultures matter”). We are experiencing a
vulture crisis. Just what do we stand to lose? An incredible variety of unique, specialized, and
yes, beautiful birds that fill vital roles in ecosystems.

Risk factors for decline

In 2004, Çağan Hakkı Şekercioğlu, an Ornithologist published a study examining the extinction
risks of all the species of birds throughout the world. He noted that vultures are among the
most threatened group of birds (Cole, 2017). Now, more than a decade later, Buechley and
Şekercioğlu have examined factors affecting the extinction risk of 22 species of vultures and
other scavenging birds that have extensive diets (Cole, 2017). Their results suggest several
immanent ecological trends that contribute to vultures extinction risk, including their highly
specialized diets, body masses and slow reproductive rates. The greatest external threat to
vultures, however, is poisoning.

Figure 3: Sixty-six vultures lie dead after eating poisoned carcasses in Limpopo, South
Africa National geographic

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However, the greatest external threat to vultures is poisoning. Vultures are not protected from
man-made contaminants. However, 69% of vulture and carnivorous species are listed as
threatened, most of which are categorized as “endangered”. For instance The California condor
(Gymnogyps californianus) was declared extinct in 1987 when the last remaining specimen
placed in captivity to protect them from lead poisoning by ingesting shot and bullet fragments
from hunted carcasses. Across Asia the big problem of accidental poisoning by diclofenac (an
anti-inflammatory used to treat cattle). In vultures, this drug can lead to fatal kidney failure
within 48 hours. However, the illegal trading of ivory and rhino horn is also bad news for them,
as poachers don’t want vultures to feed on carcasses of recently-killed elephants or rhinos.
Poachers are therefore deliberately targeting the birds by lacing carcasses with poisons. More
than 500 vultures were poisoned at a single poached elephant carcass in Namibia in July 2013,
and the recent discovery of at least 26 elephants poisoned at cyanide-laced water holes in
Zimbabwe (Vasilakis, Whitefield and kati, 2017).

Wind farm development can help climate change and energy production, but it also threatens
bird populations. Improper planning of windfarms causes decline in Vulture population.
Numerous wind farms are planned in a region with the cinereous vulture population in south-
eastern Europe (Vasilakis, Whitefield and kati, 2017).

Poisoning on three continents

Poisoning is the significant extinction risk which impacts 88 percent of threatened vulture
species. There are many forms of poisons. In India in the mid-1990s, a precipitous vulture
decline was discovered, with more than 95 percent of vultures disappearing by the early 2000s.
Buechley stats that this led a lot of people to really focus more attention on prevention of
vulture’s extinction (Cole, 2017). The reason was diclofenac which proved highly toxic to
vultures. If the cow had recently been treated with diclofenac, hundreds of vultures would die if
they feed on the carcass.

Sub-Saharan Africa also faces a threat of Vulture extinction. Potent newly affordable poisons
are used to control predatory pests, such as lions or jackals. The poisons are toxic for the
ecosystems: birds, mammals and insects are often found littering the area around these
poisoned carcasses. But, as the predominant scavenger, vultures take the brunt of the
poisoning and face the largest number of casualties. At the same time, vultures in Europe are
facing increasing threats from deliberate and accidental poisoning, habitat loss, persecution for
body parts to be used in traditional medicine, collision with power-lines and windmills, and
more. Recent disastrous declines of vultures in Europe left landscapes littered with carcasses.
Vultures in Europe may be set to follow the same fate.

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Human impacts
The impact of vultures’ declines is not only limited to ecology. Vultures are efficient consumers
of carrion. Sometimes vultures can locate and consume carcasses within an hour, before any
forms of decay can set in. Vultures’ stomachs are highly acidic which can kill almost all bacteria
or viruses that may be present in carrion. Because vultures rarely meet humans, vultures act as
a barrier to prevent diseases from multiplying in dead animals and spreading to humans.

India experienced a strong uptick in feral dogs by an estimated seven million due to the decline
of the vultures. The increase in dogs, possibly feeding on disease-ridden carcasses, is thought to
have caused the rabies outbreak that was estimated to have killed 48,000 people in India.
Deaths may have been avoided if not for the disappearance of vultures.

Members of the Parsi sect of Zoroastrianism had a different experience. The Parsi people have
placed their dead on tall towers or mountain tops for vultures to consume which is known as
“sky burial”. But with extinction of vultures, Parsis people were unable to properly take care of
their dead, which led to a crisis within the faith. The Parsis’ difficult situation is an example of
the vultures’ role in south Asian society and the various effects if the vultures aren’t there
(Dooren, 2011).

Learning from the past

Although the crisis of vulture extinction in Africa is ongoing, Buechley and Şekercioğlu predicts
the outcome, based on previous experiences in India (Cole, 2017). Population of crows, gulls,
rats and dogs will increase. The rabies outbreak in India may prologue because several sub-
Saharan Africa countries have the highest per-capita rabies infection rates in the world. Rabies
is not the only potential diseases that vultures had helped regulate.

Buechley mention that the poisoning is also affecting many other organisms throughout
ecosystems other than vultures (Cole, 2017). California condor are very good examples that
shows recovery is possible, but at a high cost, which might be impossible for developing country
to pay.

So, the better solution is to invest in vulture conservation in the present, to stem undesirable
damage from extinction of scavenging bird (vulture) and increased human disease burden in
the developing world.

Solution

Fortunately, international cooperation led to a total ban on veterinary diclofenac use. Buechley
says the numbers of vultures in 2014 have stabilized and are now showing signs of slowly
increasing (Cole, 2017). Windmills are also cause for the extinction of the vultures. Based on a
sensitivity map, a geographical explicit solution that could achieve the national target of wind

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harnessing with a minimum preservation cost of less than 1% population loss supplying that the
population mortality (5.2%) caused by the operating wind farms in the core area would be
totally reduce (Vasilakis, Whitefield and kati, 2017).

The proposed idea for the eventual recovery of vultures will be enhanced if it is possible to
protect and retain small but key remaining vulture populations in the wild through creating
Vulture Safe Zones where there is a very low risk of poisoning in the areas surrounding
remaining breeding colonies. These sites will be vitally important, not just for the numbers of
retained Vultures, but also as the first release sites for captive Vulture.

Another key element of the solution is to attract vultures in to the safe area and to retain
vultures already there through the provision of regular and safe food supply in the form of a
Vulture restaurant. Safe food can be provided by establishing a cow shelter surrounding the
vulture colonies.

How the Proposed Ideas Effect Vulture Extinction

The conservation effort by developing Vulture safe zone is very significant. These sites will be
vitally important for the preservation of the vultures. Release efforts will be focused in areas
where it has been established that vultures can be protected, and birds are likely to congregate.
Vulture Safe Zones are complimentary approaches for conserving vultures and both are vital.
The conservation effort by controlling diclofenac first focuses on removing all available stocks
of veterinary diclofenac from the areas surrounding the breeding colony and replacing this with
safe drug meloxicam. Ridding the environment of diclofenac is the key conservation action that
will save vultures.

The Vulture restaurant are mass landfills. These farms buy old cattle at the end of their working
lives that are otherwise destined to be sold to cattle traders. The cattle are housed in purpose-
built cow sheds and herded to fields on land in the village where they can graze. No cattle are
killed and ensures their welfare with regular checks and if necessary medical treatment with
the notable exception of never using diclofenac.

Conclusion
Researchers has revealed the magnitude of a potential conflict between large-scale industrial
wind-farm developments as an environmentally friendly strategy to combat climate change on
the one hand, but on the other hand its detrimental impact on a protected species of
conservation concern, when relevant protective legislation is poorly implemented.

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While the causes for vulture population declines are poorly understood, it is likely that
electrocution, poisoning, and direct oppression have affected survival and reproductive rates of
vultures (Velevski, Metodija, et al. 2014). All these factors function at a huge spatial scale, and
reduce these threats will require large-scale changes in landscape use, human attitudes and
activities. Although additional feeding and other interventions for conservation can help local
populations (Velevski, Metodija, et al. 2014). Larger-scale policy and management changes are
required to determine the threats facing Egyptian Vultures across their range. I recommend
implementing and enforce of anti-poisoning laws to decrease the accidental killing of
scavenging birds across the entire world, alternate of hazardous electrical infrastructure with
safe structures across the globe to reduce electrocutions, and the reservation of small-scale
livestock feeding and carcass disposal systems that supply ample food for vultures.

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 References
Cole, Lucinda. "Introduction: Putrefaction and the Ecologies of Life: Enter the Vulture."

Configurations, vol. 25, no. 2, 2017, pp. 137-143,263. ProQuest,

https://librarylink.uncc.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/18852505
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accountid=14605.

Doorem, Thom. Vulture (Anumal). Reaktion Books Ltd. London, UK. 2011.

Vasilakis, Dimitris P., D. P. Whitfield, and Vassiliki Kati. "A Balanced Solution to the

Cumulative Threat of Industrialized Wind Farm Development on Cinereous Vultures

(Aegypius Monachus) in South-Eastern Europe." PLoS One, vol. 12, no. 2, 2017.

ProQuest,

https://librarylink.uncc.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/18715259
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accountid=14605, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0172685.

VELEVSKI, METODIJA, et al. "Population Decline and Range Contraction of the Egyptian Vulture

Neophron Percnopterus in the Balkan Peninsula." Bird Conservation International, vol.

25, no. 4, 2015, pp. 440-450. ProQuest,

https://librarylink.uncc.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/17273647

68?accountid=14605, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0959270914000343.

Why vultures matter—and what we lose if they're gone. University of Utah. 2016.

phys.org/news.

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