Vultures eat woman's body in 50 minutes after fall off cliff

[muriel_volestrangler]

86. Vultures in South Asia were dying of kidney failure from drugs given to cattle

Long-billed vulture numbers recover in Pakistan after diclofenac ban

Diclofenac was banned for veterinary use across south Asia in 2006 after it was discovered to be responsible for catastrophic declines in vulture populations in Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh, by as much as 99% over 10 years.

The anti-inflammatory treatment was used to treat ailing cattle and other livestock, and when these carcasses were left out for vultures to scavenge, the birds died of kidney failure in their thousands.

As a result, once-common Asian vultures are among the most endangered birds in the world, and the long-billed vulture is one of four Asian species listed as critically endangered by the IUCN.

However a new study by the Peregrine Fund found that by 2008, two years after the ban, breeding populations of the long-billed vulture at study sites in Pakistan had increased by up to 52%.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/30/pakistan-vulture-diclofenac-ban

A particular problem in India, where religion meant that many farmers didn't want to put down sick cattle, but gave them drugs instead. The drop in vulture numbers had the knock on effect of an increase of feral dogs scavenging what the vultures had; which increased the risk of rabies, and also increased the attacks on dogs by leopards - and the attacks on humans by leopards. http://antranik.org/the-great-indian-vulture-crisis/