<h5>India’s vulture population.</h5><p>Once upon a time, India had a healthy vulture population. The birds were found everywhere, flying across the blue sky and helping keep the environment clean by feasting on dead animals.</p><p>Sadly, their population quickly diminished, with reports saying it was reduced by 99%. The decline began when a drug, Diclofenac, used for treating livestock, turned out to be toxic to these birds.</p><p>The drug caused kidney damage, which led to a decline in the vulture population. The vultures were getting exposed to the drug through animal carcasses. If an animal that has consumed the drug died, the drug remained in its liver and kidney.</p><p>When the vultures ate these animals, they were exposed to the drug, which harmed them. The Indian government banned the veterinary use of diclofenac in 2006. Sadly, the vulture population had declined significantly by then, from 50 million to a few thousand.</p><figure class="image"><img alt="Indian_Vulture.jpg" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/newsahoot.appspot.com/Indian_Vulture_6e369668dc.jpg"><figcaption>An Indian vulture. Photo by Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0</figcaption></figure><h5>The declining vulture population caused a health crisis!</h5><p>A study published in the American Economic Association journal claims that many human deaths occurred due to the decline in the vulture population.</p><p>Vultures help manage disease by eating dead animals, which reduces the population of other scavengers, such as rabid dogs. Without the birds, farmers also have to dispose of their dead cattle in water bodies, which spreads disease.</p><p>When vultures do not feed on these dead carcasses, they can pile up and rot, which can become a breeding ground for various diseases.</p><p>This is what happened when the vulture population declined, with the carcasses increasing and spreading pathogens. The government then ordered the use of chemicals to get rid of the carcasses.</p><p>This also turned out to be harmful, as the chemicals and the melted bodies found their way down the rivers, contaminating the water. The dead animals also attracted scavenger dogs, which spread diseases even further.</p><p>The dogs also spread rabies to humans, affecting them. So, the decline of the vulture population increased the spread of diseases among humans and caused many deaths.</p><p>Currently, the Indian government and forest officials are working hard to increase the population of these birds.</p><h5>What does this show?</h5><p>The link between the decline in the vulture population and the increase in human death highlights how a species loss can cause unpredictable costs to humans.</p><p>It also emphasises the interdependence among all species in the ecosystem and the importance of each one’s role in maintaining balance in nature.</p><p>It also teaches us the importance of protecting all species and the environment, as the loss of a species or environment will affect everyone, including humans!</p>

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