A new restriction on vets' drugs poisoning Pakistan's critically endangered vultures promises to boost not only survival hopes of nature's feathered dustbins but also public health, wildlife experts have said.

The birds' gory appearances and unsavoury habits may make them less appealing than other endangered species, but a collapse in numbers triggered by toxic livestock drugs has risked spreading disease in humans.

Around 95 per cent of Pakistan's vultures have died off since the mid-1990s after birds were poisoned scavenging the carcasses of livestock treated with common anti-inflammatory drugs.

A collapse in numbers of vultures can see carcasses left to rot, or see the birds replaced by other scavengers, such as rats or packs of feral dogs, that carry diseases and transmit them to people.

View more!

Officials in Sindh province have now promised to restrict two of the most common drugs after years of lobbying from conservationists.

Muhammad Jamshed Iqbal, of the Pakistan branch of the World Wildlife Fund, said: “For vultures, we don't have too much time, so first we decided to restrict their availability. We wrote to the provincial health secretary asking him to restrict these two drugs from the area. I think it's good news for vultures.”

The Chief Drug Inspector of Sindh has ordered regional and district drug inspectors to restrict the use of aceclofenac and ketoprofen.

Without vultures, the numbers of mammalian scavengers increases, which increases the potential for disease transmission

The Pakistan Vulture Restoration Project (PVRP) led by Mr Iqba l has spent the past 12 years campaigning for the banning of the toxic non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) which cause kidney failure in the birds.

A statement from the PVRP, which includes the UK's Hawk Conservancy Trust and the WWF, said vultures' collapse had “serious consequences for people”.

Their waste removal service controls the populations of disease-carrying scavengers that are a threat to human health.

“By suppressing the numbers of mammalian scavengers at carcasses, the potential for disease transmission is reduced. Without vultures, the numbers of mammalian scavengers increases, which increases the potential for disease transmission, threatening the health of humans and wildlife.”

Vultures' removal of carrion leaves less food for other scavengers, such as dogs. A collapse in vulture numbers in India has been blamed for a huge rise in the feral dog population at the same time and a rise in rabies cases. Vultures strong digestive juices also allow them to eat diseased carrion, cleaning up carcasses that may be infected with deadly microbes.

View more!

The most common NSAID, diclofenac, was banned from veterinary use in Pakistan, India and Nepal in 2006. But vets have continued to use residual stockpiles and the similar drugs aceclofenac and ketoprofen have continued to pose a threat to the Gyps group of vultures, including white-backed vultures and long-billed vultures. Tens of millions are thought to have died in the past two decades across South Asia alone, cutting populations by somewhere between 95 and 99 per cent.

Mr Iqbal said conservationists will conduct spot checks at vets to see if the restrictions have really cut back on the availability of the drugs, or whether they are still available on the black market.

He has been carrying out research on vultures for more than 20 years. He said: “The populations are still declining. If this decline continues, we are afraid that these species will become extinct.”

To try to stem the birds' decline, the PVRP has set up a breeding centre in Punjab province and a “vulture safe zone” in Sindh where some of the last colonies of white-backed and long-billed vultures can be found.

View more!

Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security