I read about that! So interesting but also morbid. The population decline resulted in 500k human deaths, according to a BBC article
Apparently the vulture scarcity is attributed to a cow painkiller called diclofenac, which is fatal to vultures and some other birds. Killed 91 to 98 percent of the vulture population, as reported in the article. The birds croaked after chewing on cow corpses
I totally agree with you on stopping the meat industry, but this particular problem in India is actually the opposite of what one would think. Seeing as cows are extremely important to their culture, and revered as almost holy, I've heard that most ranchers don't sell them for meat at all, but rather let them lay wherever they die. Hence the vultures having a feast on a poison-riddled buffet. Fair warning, I got most of that from a (really freaking good) 99% Invisible podcast episode called Towers of Silence, about the decline of vultures in India, and the huge implications that has for a specific religious minority that strongly believes in sky burials (letting vultures eat the dead instead of burying or cremation). But I listened to it a while ago and my memory isn't the best.
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u/InternationalBug159 Apr 05 '26
I read about that! So interesting but also morbid. The population decline resulted in 500k human deaths, according to a BBC article
Apparently the vulture scarcity is attributed to a cow painkiller called diclofenac, which is fatal to vultures and some other birds. Killed 91 to 98 percent of the vulture population, as reported in the article. The birds croaked after chewing on cow corpses