Nature’s Housecleaners

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Vultures are taken for granted.

Or at least they were – until India’s vulture population experienced a dramatic collapse in the 1990s.

Then, their numbers dropped from tens of millions to just a few thousand because of the use of a veterinary drug diclofenac, which was given to cattle and other livestock to treat inflammation and fever. But this drug caused kidney failures in the birds feeding on the carcasses of animals that had been treated.

Meanwhile, this near-extinction event seems to have contributed to around half a million additional human deaths between 2000 and 2005, according to a new paper measuring the consequences of the bird’s decline.

Researchers Anant Sudarshan and Eyal Frank analyzed human mortality rates in regions with and without significant vulture populations before and after the decline.

Their calculations pointed to a link between the two: The absence of vultures led to increased carcass accumulation, consequently resulting in more feral dogs and rats that contributed to the spread of diseases, such as rabies and anthrax.

More carcasses in fields and waterways also contributed to water contamination – further exacerbating health issues. The avian’s mass disappearance also had economic consequences, costing India an estimated $69 billion annually.

“I would not have guessed the effect would be so large,” Sudarshan told Vox. “The extinction was the largest sanitation shock you could imagine, where you have 50 million carcasses every year not being disposed of.”

Vultures don’t really get a lot of appreciation, although they are considered keystone species – meaning they are integral to biodiversity and balancing the ecosystem.

“They perform this really important function in the environment that benefits us as society, as people,” Frank explained to Canada’s CBC Radio. “They get rid of a lot of dead animals and sanitize and clean up the space for us.”

The research team hopes their findings could help shift the vulture’s reputation and their pivotal role in nature.

The case study in India also serves as a wake-up call for conservationist efforts elsewhere, as the bird species continues to face threats from hunting, poisoning, and habitat destruction worldwide.

“Vultures may not be glamorous or cute, but we need them,” conservationist Corinne Kendall, who was not involved in the study, told CBC Radio.

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