A common pain reliever for livestock is wiping out the vultures of the Indian subcontinent. And vultures are a key part of how man and nature have achieved an important balance throughout the region.

Vultures, which once clouded the skies, were the subcontinent's carcass disposal system. When an animal dies, hide collectors remove the skin, leaving the rest for the birds.

But over the last decade, populations of the Oriental white-backed vulture (Gyps bengalensis), long-billed vulture (Gyps indicus), and slender-billed vulture (Gyps tenuirostris) have declined by more than 95 percent in Pakistan, India, and Nepal. Now, the carcasses rot for days, raising quite a stink throughout the region.

"Any time you have an animal die of disease and its carcass sits around, it's a problem," said Oaks. For example, in India, the rotting carrion supports booming populations of feral dogs, which in turn spread rabies.

Additionally, vultures play an integral part of the Parsi "sky burial" ceremony in which human corpses are left out to be consumed by the raptors. The lack of vultures in places like Mumbai (known earlier as Bombay) is causing significant problems for this ancient tradition, said Oaks.

The birds are consuming livestock with the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory diclofenac (akin to aspirin or ibuprofen) and dying of "visceral gout, a condition in which pasty, chalky white deposits of uric acid coat the internal organs. It is caused by kidney—or renal—failure."

The widespread use of this specific anti-inflammatory has been confined to the subcontinent. But researchers are concerned about possible effects on related species of vulture if the drug came into wide use in other regions.

via wAitNG foR doROthY -- National Geographic, reporting on Nature article May 2004