Vultures were once commonly spotted throughout India. Their number exceeded 5 crores. But there was a staggering 95% drop in vulture populations in the wild by the late 1990s. There are currently only a few thousand vultures in the wild, and three species of vultures are in danger of going extinct.
Vulture populations in India are declining faster than any other bird species in history. This is the largest drop since the collapse of wild pigeon populations in the United States. Why has the number of vultures reduced, and what is the impact on humans?
The "American Economic Review" has released a report on this. It examined the health data of 340 districts in India. In districts with historically low vulture populations and districts with historically high vulture populations, the study examined the rates of human mortality before and after the decline. The findings are astonishing.
The absence of vultures caused five lakh deaths in five years
According to the study, between 2000 and 2005, the absence of vultures resulted in an additional loss of approximately 1 lakh people in these districts. The nation loses around 69.4 billion dollars annually as a result of these preventable fatalities. These humans died from diseases and bacteria that the vultures were eradicating from the environment.
The lack of vultures resulted in an increase in dogs, and humans had to deal with deadly diseases like rabies. Rabies vaccines were introduced during this period, but the number of vaccines was not sufficient. Unlike vultures, dogs are unable to totally destroy decomposing carcasses. Therefore, the bacteria and viruses mix with the drinking water. The number of bacteria from defecation in the water doubled.
The study was conducted by Eyal Frank, Assistant Professor at the Harris School of Public Policy and EPIC Scholar, and Anant Sudarshan, Associate Professor at the University of Warwick and EPIC Non-Resident Scholar.
Anant Sudarshan examined district data and discovered that after an increase in the sale of a painkiller (Diclofenac) for cattle treatment and a decrease in vulture numbers, human mortality rates increased by 4% in districts with previously high vulture populations. Its direct influence was more obvious in cities with a large number of cattle and carcasses dumped outside the city.
Vulture populations drastically dropped by 95%
Initially, the cause of the vulture deaths remained unknown. In 2004, the real reason was revealed. Many vultures die from kidney failure. Diclofenac was used to cure cattle. After these animals die, vultures consume their flesh, and diclofenac enters their bodies.
However, even a small amount of it became fatal for them. In the 1990s, Indian companies created low-cost and generic versions of the medication diclofenac, leading to its widespread usage in cattle treatment. In 1994, Indian farmers began using diclofenac for animals, which had previously only been used for human.
As this use increased, the number of vultures began to fall drastically. According to a 1996 research, the number of vulture nests in Rajasthan's Keuladev National Sanctuary has been reduced by half from 353 in 1984. The situation was the same in other places. The Indian government eventually prohibited the use of diclofenac in animal treatment in 2006.
But a 2018 study found that illegal use diclofenac continued even after its ban. Therefore, the number of vultures continued to decrease.
Dogs and rats swarm over animal carcasses when there are no vultures
Vultures play a crucial role in keeping the environment clean as skilled sanitation workers. Farmers depend on them to clean the rotting carcasses. Vultures are more adept at eating carrion than any other animal or bird. This is because they have a high level of acidity in their stomachs, which is 100 times higher than that of humans.
Thus, they can eat and digest any rotten meat. Bacteria of carcasses cannot survive in a vulture's stomach. A swarm of vultures can scavenge even the carcass of a large animal within an hour. In contrast, neither dogs nor rats can eat whole meat. Moreover, they spread dangerous bacteria like rabies. Therefore, there is no other scavenger in nature that can replace the vultures.
In the absence of vultures, farmers must dig deep holes to bury their dead cattle or burn them in kilns specifically prepared by the municipality. Both of these require money. So, the farmers do not even dig the pits, and the municipality does not supply a furnace.
According to a 2020 report released by the Central Pollution Control Board, electric furnaces are not used to replace vultures in India. These furnaces are present in only a few cities. There is one kiln in Delhi, and plans to build another in Chandigarh are in progress.
For all of these reasons, animal corpses are frequently dumped or thrown into rivers in India. Because there are no vultures, dogs and rats gather here. However, because they are not skilled scavengers like vultures, they spread infectious diseases at a significant cost to humans.
"Considering the role of vultures in relation to human health, it is clear why all animals need to be protected and conserved, not just the beautiful and attractive animals," Eyal Frank, the study's co-author, adds. "All of these creatures play a vital role in the ecological cycle that influences human life."
To address this significant issue, it is necessary to safeguard all of the important creatures and birds that maintain the environment secure, such as vultures. According to Ananth Sudarshan, "the decrease of vultures in India exemplifies the enormous cost to humanity when a species becomes extinct. Chemicals have been blamed for this.
However, human activities are destroying animal habitats, increasing wildlife trade, and the consequences of climate change are being felt in nature, all of which are threatening human survival. We have to pay a high price for all of this.
So we have to work, make regulations and provide resources to protect and conserve key species in the natural chain.”
Courtesy - The Wire
Translation - Sachi Jiwane
