South Asian vultures experienced one of the fastest population collapses of any bird group in history due to diclofenac poisoning, with ongoing recovery efforts under way.
Vultures dying from diclofenac toxicity experience visceral gout and renal failure causing a painful death. The speed and scale of the population collapse represents one of the largest wildlife welfare disasters ever recorded. Individual suffering multiplied at this scale demands urgent intervention. Recovery is ongoing but slow given vulture reproductive rates. Ensuring veterinary drug safety for scavenging wildlife is now established as a requirement for drug licensing in range countries.