African and Asian vulture populations have collapsed due to deliberate and incidental poisoning. These ecosystem engineers serve irreplaceable functions in carcass removal and disease prevention.
Vulture population collapse creates welfare harm at multiple levels. Individual vultures killed by poisoning die slowly from neurological toxicity, sometimes taking hours to days. The collapse of vulture populations creates welfare harm for the broader ecosystem by allowing carcasses to persist, increasing disease risk for other species. The secondary poisoning of vultures by veterinary drugs like diclofenac - used legally in cattle but lethal to vultures consuming treated carcasses - represents a regulatory failure with cascading welfare consequences. Conservation responses including diclofenac bans in India have shown that regulatory action can halt and reverse vulture decline when implemented effectively.