Vultures are among the most ecologically vital birds on Earth and among the most threatened, with populations crashing from poisoning.
Diclofenac poisoning causes visceral gout in vultures — crystalline deposits of uric acid throughout organ tissues — causing agonizing death. Mass poisoning events by ivory poachers wipe out entire local populations. Each vulture that dies represents a cascade of ecosystem harm as disease-spreading carcasses accumulate. The welfare case is inseparable from the ecological emergency.