Switching Drugs for Livestock may save the critically endangered Vultures of the Indian subcontinent
Since the early 1990s, the population of vultures on the Indian subcontinent has been reduced by 95 %, including the species Gyps bengalensis, Gyps indicus and Gyps tenuirostris. In Europe, human persecution was obviously to blame for the eradication of griffon vultures and bearded vultures. But in India, the killing of wildlife is illegal and vultures are valued for their ecological function. The reason for their demise was therefore unexplainable.