Diclofenac killing Vultures in India

A vulture flies towards the decomposed body of an animal, unseen, at Nandani on the Jammu-Srinagar highway, about 19 miles north of Jammu, India.  Tens of millions of vultures once played a key role in South Asia’s ecosystem, disposing of carcasses and keeping down populations of stray dogs and rats that also feed on carcasses and are likely to spread diseases among humans. But millions of long-billed, slender-billed and oriental white-backed vultures have died in South Asia over the past several years after eating cattle carcasses tainted with diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory painkiller given to sick cows.