Science
Related: About this forumGovernments ban drug, eliminate toxic corpses to save a vulture population
The overuse of drugs in large-scale agriculture poses a variety of risks to human health. But one that played out in India and the surrounding countries was remarkably indirect: an overabundance of rotting cow carcasses. Thanks to repeated government interventions, the root of that problemplunging populations of vulturesmay finally be on the mend.
The problem started with an anti-inflammatory drug, diclofenac, that was being mass-produced after the patents on it had expired. It found widespread use in veterinary settings in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan. From there, it made its way to the vultures. These birds normally scavenge a large number of cow carcasses that would otherwise end up rotting in the open. Unfortunately, as the drug ended up building up in the vultures, it caused fatal kidney toxicity. Populations of some species plunged to one percent of their historic levelsand the bodies of dead cattle began festering in the countryside.
A perspective in today's issue of Science tracks the efforts involved in saving the vultures. Several of the countries first banned diclofenac in 2006, but that turned out to be only a partial solution. Doses of the drug intended for humans were repurposed for the agricultural market, so further interventions were needed before the contamination problem ended up dropping significantly. Since then, the four nations involved (which are not always on the best terms) have agreed to cooperate to prevent further threats to the vultures.
The effort seems to be working. Although there are number of additional identified threats, the population declines appear to have slowed or halted in most vulture species. A few of them are even showing signs of a potential rebound. It's nice to celebrate a success story, but this perspective does make it clear the success took a lot of workincluding threat identification, repeated government interventions, and international cooperation.
http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/02/governments-ban-drug-eliminate-toxic-corpses-to-save-a-vulture-population/
Mnemosyne
(21,363 posts)this world.
We are all connected, hope more understand this soon.
DreamGypsy
(2,252 posts)...who feed on the natural products of life and of death, our world would be a whole lot less healthy and a whole lot more smelly.
Vultures (and other birds) probably don't think humans are all that beautiful, at least not while we're still alive.
littlemissmartypants
(22,691 posts)Stories like this thrill me. That'll teach your pharmaceutical mongering humans, can't keep a good vulture down. We NEED these creatures. If nothing else they are a mirror into our failings as humans. Thank you for posting. Love and Peace. lmsp
formercia
(18,479 posts)in Myakka River State park in Florida. It was very polite, picking up a bit of twig from the ground and pretending to eat it. It was only about 2 feet from me, but when I indicated that I had nothing, It calmly flew away.
They are a bit of a problem in the park, as they like to amuse themselves by pulling the rubber gaskets from car windshields.