African vultures are facing a catastrophic poisoning crisis from poisoned carcasses left by poachers and farmers, causing mass mortality events and rapid population collapse across the continent.
Vulture poisoning causes agonizing death for individual birds. Carbofuran and other pesticides used in poisoning events cause convulsions, paralysis, and prolonged dying. Mass events kill hundreds of animals within hours of a single poisoned carcass — the social feeding behavior that makes vultures efficient scavengers makes them catastrophically vulnerable to this tactic. Surviving birds at poisoning sites may ingest sublethal doses causing neurological damage. The psychological dimensions of vulture welfare are understudied, but their complex social foraging, mate fidelity, and apparent recognition of flock members suggest capacity for social distress when groups are decimated.