Vultures are critical ecosystem service providers whose populations have collapsed across Africa and Asia due to poisoning and veterinary drug residues. Protecting vultures protects both ecosystems and the billions of animals that benefit from healthy scavenger communities.
Vultures dying from diclofenac poisoning experience acute renal failure — a painful death over hours to days. Mass poisoning events on the African continent have killed thousands of individuals in single incidents. The welfare harm is amplified by the ecological consequences: vulture decline allows feral dog populations to expand on ungrazed carcasses, increasing rabies exposure to millions of people and domestic animals. Protecting vultures is therefore a welfare intervention with cascading benefits beyond the vultures themselves. Simple interventions — banning toxic veterinary drugs, prosecuting poisoners, and providing safe carcass feeding sites — prevent enormous welfare harm.