A public health crisis happened due to the declining population of the vultures, there were around 500,000 human deaths between 2000 and 2005, that happened due to this crisis according to a study published in the American Economic Review.
The decline of vultures began in 1994 when the veterinary drug diclofenac, used for treating livestock, was discovered to be toxic to these birds. The drug caused kidney damage, resulting in a significant decrease in the vulture population.
Vultures in India are for the removal of the dead ones and the declining vulture resulted in the carcasses starting to build up, spreading pathogens. The government of India ordered to use of the chemicals as the situation of the deal piling got out of the hands and the chemical and melted products found their way down the rivers contamination the water.
The dead pilling up also caused the dogs to be pilling up near the dead making the disease spread even more. The study compared the death rates of humans in all the areas, collecting data from before and after the use of the diclofenac in 1994 and after this experiment, it was revealed that the human death rate increased by 4% after this whole ordeal took place.
And the number went high up to 500,000 human deaths between 2000 and 2005. The study’s co-author, Eyal Frank, is an assistant professor at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy, “Vultures are considered nature’s sanitation service because of the important role they play in removing dead animals that contain bacteria and pathogens from our environment - without them, disease can spread,"
He further added “Understanding the role vultures play in human health underscores the importance of protecting wildlife, and not just the cute and cuddly. They all have a job to do in our ecosystems that impacts our lives.”
It was in the study also reported that Mr Frank and his co-author Anant Sudarshan compared human death rates in Indian districts and it was revealed that the examined rabies vaccine sales increased as the dogs too started feeding upon the dead and they were rabies dogs who bit humans and led to in the increasing number of the death count.
This effect was more common in the urban areas where garbage dumping and carcass dumps were common. Overall the loss of vultures between 2000 and 2005 caused around 100,000 additional human deaths annually, resulting in more than $70 billion, 5 lakh in mortality damages.
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