Changes in the Poisons that Kill Vultures

The ban on diclofenac in 2006, although not fully implemented, was a major milestone for the survival of vultures. As has been cited in this book, recovery of vultures is already beginning for some species. There are two main issues: (1) whether an effective ban will help the vultures species recover; and (2) if other related issues such the decline in cattle carcass dumping, sky burials, increased urban sanitation and incineration of carcasses, increased populations of competitors such as feral dogs and corvids, and habitat losses will prevent a full recovery, even if the drug is totally banned. Few studies have yet examined these issues, as the full evidence of a vulture recovery across Asia is not yet documented. If the vulture decline led or leads to permanent socio-environmental change, the prospects of a full vulture recovery may be conditional on the adaptation of the birds to the new reality. An important issue is that neither the current vultures nor the ecosystems may have had to deal with such a situation before, where vultures are virtually non-existent, facultative scavengers do most of the scavenging work, and carcasses of animals and people must be disposed of in another fashion.

Increasing attention to sanitation, not only in the affected Asian nations but globally is a related concern. In a so-called civilized society, it is unacceptable for carrion to be lying in the urban to rural environment. As health and development policies demand cleaner environments, to promote human health and well being, the issue is 'what about the vultures'? A clean environment is an intrinsic aspect of human quality of life, enumerated as physical, material, social and emotional well-being, none of which are possible with dead, decaying flesh in close proximity. With alternatives to vultures being found what is the future for these birds?

Another poison that kills vultures, namely lead from gunshots may be solved by the ban in lead in guns. Such a ban may be possible in the United States with improved technology, and possibly in Europe. If such bans are in effect, a global ban may still be decades away. Associated with this is the practice of hunting (which may be a declining activity), and the disposal of some of the remains from hunting. Hunting is viewed by many among the science community and the general public as wrong. If either hunting declines or carcasses are disposed of in a more sanitary manner, the result for vultures is negative. The question then is what will replace the source of meat. So far the only replacements have been the vulture restaurants, but these still require surplus meat, may be expansive to run and being artificial, reduce the natural ecological behavior of vultures.

Pesticides also affect vultures. Despite the ban on the agricultural use of DDT in the United States in 1972, and the global ban in the Stockholm Convention (1972), it is arguably still used, and other dangerous chemical compounds have taken its place. The organochlorine pesticides used in South African agriculture have been detected in the blood of vultures, and are yet to be banned. The question concerns the future for the use of these chemicals. The only future solution is to find a compound that does not threaten vultures. This is possible, given that not all animals are threatened by the same compounds. For example, Turkey Vultures were found to be unaffected by diclofenac. Future avoidance of the diclofenac issue would require Vulture, or Bird Impact Assessments to be exhaustively conducted before any pesticide could be marketed. This, of course would be a major undertaking, as even testing the chemicals on birds would require many test animals from already endangered species.

The use of poisons, such as Furadan in carcasses to kill predators in African countries and some other countries is a major problem that may not disappear soon. With increased human populations and increased pressure for food supplies, livestock keepers may become more reluctant to listen to the policies of conservationists and tolerate carnivores killing their livestock. A further problem in Africa and Asia is desertification, which reduces grazing land for both livestock and wild ungulates and by encouraging competition for grazing land, attracts large carnivores to close proximity. The killing of 'problem' carnivores and the protection of livestock is likely to hamper food access for vultures. For this problem, there is no clear solution in sight, because solutions link to issues outside the reach of environmental policy; these include the rising human populations in the Global South, the increasingly variable weather that encourages drought and famine and the lack of economic development in many contexts.

The killing with guns is illegal in the North America and within the European Union. Few studies have been able to document the effectiveness of the vulture protection laws in this regard, because this would require the location of any shot birds. In the tropical countries, the shooting of vultures, like the poisoning of these birds, is even more difficult to document. The future for vultures in this regard can only be bright if guns are banned and somehow all removed from the hands of all relevant people. However, this is unlikely with the world rather moving in the opposite direction. Increased proliferation of guns means that the protection of vultures will depend more on human desire for their survival than on the possibility of unrealistic anti-gun legislation.