We prefer to despise their existence and unconsciously distort our face when we cast a glance their way. Ignorance causes us to dismiss their existence. The feeling of disgust triumphs over any pleasant feeling and we wonder why they populate the earth? The reason is very clear-- if we bother to look. Scavengers fulfil an extremely important role in any and every ecosystem. We need them. From maggots to the more acceptable, but still loathed and considered ‘lesser’ animals by most people, vultures. 

Please allow me to share a bit about these incredibly useful birds. We tend to think they are dirty birds, filled and covered with terrible bacteria and spreading diseases wherever they land. But these flying garbage men are just the opposite. Yes, of course they eat putrefying flesh and the most disgusting things, but they are consuming things that can kill us if left to spread and do their worst. Scavengers keep us safe. Vultures keep us safe. These grossly misunderstood birds of prey are amongst the most threatened species in the animal kingdom – most of them are endangered or critically endangered.

We tend to think all that awful and rotten stuff they eat stays with them and gets pooped or vomited out, thereby, only delaying the spread of diseases. Not so? Nope. They are clean birds. Let me explain. Vultures have extremely powerful stomach acid – some of the strongest out there. So, it kills any nasty bacteria as soon as possible. The PH level of that acid is like battery acid. Yes, it’s that strong, so, obviously their stomach-lining can cope. Therefore, their ‘poop’ is so caustic it disinfects their feet and legs they use to move in and around carcasses. How do they disinfect them, you ask? By the obvious method – they poop on them. Some vomit up their food to lighten their load to soar up into the air to escape a predator or in defence, and please don’t think that expelled flesh is a swarming nest of deadly toxin, it’s likely the cleanest and purest meat you’ll ever find. 

Currently, in the Covid era, we rely on hand sanitiser a lot. Take my word for it, vulture excreta will easily replace its effectiveness and do a better job at it. However, the world is losing a powerful ally. We are seeing to their demise, but we can also prevent that from ever occurring. The choice is ours.

Their important and vital population is growing less largely due to human ignorance and negligence – persecution, habitat loss and ‘accidental’ poisonings, and many are also electrocuted by power lines often built in their nesting areas. And guess who controls all of them? Yes, the same animal with the supposed highest form of intelligence – humankind. We automatically assume this is due to uneducated minds and mindsets. Hang on just a minute, because vultures are also victims of the well-read and highly educated, but stubbornly ignorant minds. Let me give you an example of this pure ‘genius’ streak weaving its uncontrolled way through some governments. 

This is undeniable evidence of why politicians need a strong sense of wildlife conservation and ethics in all walks of life to fully succeed and implement wise and far-reaching decisions. Decisions carried forth to grateful future generations where humankind also benefits. History will always remember that wonderful politician for all the good reasons – they will be mentioned, favourably and often fondly, in history books the world over. A great legacy.

Unlike this lot who ‘masterminded’ these move(s), studies were carried out, many times over and documented. But, where? How did they miss this incredibly crucial information, or did they simply ignore this solid fact? We can all agree India and Pakistan, in many areas, have a huge human crisis to deal with – the type of crisis where too many people occupy and over-crowd an area, and only the worst comes from situations like that, but we will focus on the vultures. 

So many humans congregating and/or living in one area guarantees huge piles of uncontrolled garbage left to rot in the blazing sun, spreading diseases – directly or indirectly. These governments spent huge amounts on human health issues. Many millions, eye-watering amounts of cash. Totally unnecessary and near-sighted expenditure. To curb this and dissolve the potentially humongous and largely fatal threat all they had to do was listen and think of nature first. After all, nature always has a plan. Nature never allows a situation to grow out of hand and destroy our world – land, air or sea.   

The solution was always there and was always free. Vultures. The vital vulture population has almost been obliterated in these ravaged areas. And the same governments allowed it to happen. Here is an example – in India they allowed the awful drug – ‘Diclofenic’, to be marketed and sold.   

When the cattle, treated with this anti-inflammatory medicine, died - their carcasses weren’t removed and disposed of in a responsible manner. Hell, no. No action related to any form of control was enforced. The vultures, nevertheless, did their duty to dispose of the dead these messy humans left lying around the place (literally in most areas) to ensure the land’s free of deadly bacteria. The helpful vultures did their thing and consumed the carcasses and fell victim to those dreaded words – accidental poisoning. Accidental, really? 

It is estimated up to 99% of the three main vulture species in India have been poisoned and killed this way. A heart-brokenly staggering but eye-opening statistic. Without these functional birds around there are too many carcasses piling up (not literally, I hope) ensuring an abundance of feral dogs and therefore, allowing a wave of rabies to sweep over the land. Dogs aren’t the issue here – they are merely a result of useless action by people who have the power to do something, and the feral population are only part of the domino effect caused by removing Nature’s key solution (vultures). This has resulted in far-reaching and never-ending problems. 

We love rhinos and are extremely concerned about their plight. But using them to draw a comparison, here - the money going into the prevention of rhino poaching far, far, far outweighs any effort going into any form of vulture conservation. Rhinos do their bit to ensure the health of an ecosystem, but when it comes to human life, this world will undoubtedly be poorer with the absence of wild and free rhinos, but we would survive. We will not, however, survive without the presence of wild and free vultures.