African and Asian vultures are experiencing catastrophic declines driven by poisoning from carcasses laced to kill lions and other predators. Their welfare and ecological role are both critically threatened.
Vulture poisoning events cause mass, acute welfare harm. Carbofuran poisoning causes convulsions and rapid but extremely distressing death. Events killing hundreds of birds simultaneously represent one of the largest single acute welfare harms in African wildlife. Surviving vultures from affected events may experience sublethal poisoning effects. The ecological loss - vultures as critical carcass sanitisers - creates secondary welfare harms through disease spread and slow mammal carcass decomposition. Anti-poisoning campaigns, ranger patrols, and the use of poison-detection dogs around known poisoning hotspots are the most direct welfare interventions.