India’s vulture population.
A long time ago, lots of happy vultures flew in the sky in India. They helped keep our lands clean by eating dead animals.
Then, Diclofenac, a medicine for livestock, made the vultures sick and caused a decline in their population (oh no!). When the vultures ate any dead animal that had taken this medicine, they got very sick. So sick that they started dying!
The Indian government banned the veterinary use of diclofenac in 2006. Sadly, the vulture population had declined a lot by then!
The declining vulture population caused a health crisis!
A study published in the American Economic Association journal says that when vultures started disappearing, it caused big problems. Vultures help keep the world clean by eating dead animals and stopping diseases from spreading.
Without vultures, dead animals were left around, and germs spread. Farmers had to put the dead animals in the water, which made the water dirty and spread diseases.
The government tried to use chemicals to clean up, but it made things worse. The chemicals and the dead animals made the water even dirtier.
Dogs came to eat the dead animals and spread diseases too! All these caused many deaths among humans!
Currently, the government is working hard to increase the population of these birds.
What does this show?
When the vulture population declined, it caused more diseases for people, showing how important each species is to our world. Every animal helps keep nature in balance and losing one can lead to big problems.
This teaches us why we need to protect all animals and the environment. If we don’t, it can affect everyone, including us!
