Vulture declines across Africa and Asia have caused ecosystem collapse and welfare crises for wild animals, demonstrating how scavenger conservation benefits the broader community.
Individual vultures killed by poison or diclofenac die in significant distress. The ecosystem consequences extend further: without vulture carcass processing, disease spreads to livestock and wildlife causing suffering across species. The feral dog populations that expand into vulture-free niches cause suffering through rabies transmission and dog-human-wildlife conflict. Vulture conservation thus prevents welfare harm at multiple levels - individual vulture death, disease spread to other animals, and ecological cascade that amplifies suffering across ecosystems.