African vultures face an extinction-level poisoning crisis from deliberate poisoning by poachers and livestock herders, causing some of the largest acute wildlife welfare events ever documented.
Vultures dying from carbamate or organophosphate poisoning experience agonizing neurotoxic death involving seizures, loss of motor control, and respiratory paralysis within minutes to hours. Mass poisoning events that kill hundreds of birds at a carcass represent acute welfare catastrophes that are also ecological disasters removing keystone scavengers from ecosystems. The survivors of non-lethal exposures may suffer lasting neurological damage affecting foraging and flight ability. Anti-poisoning programs including community engagement, reward systems for reporting poisoning events, and working with livestock herders on predator conflict management address both the welfare and conservation emergency facing African vultures.