There’s a global epidemic of grievous inflammatory disease in cattle caused by the paratuberculosis bacterium.
The challenge can be solved entirely by vaccines, it’s just not prioritized. You can simply “cull” a sick cow and sell the diseased meat in the grocery store.
The article doesn’t say what the inflammatory diseases in the cows are in India, but I wonder if it’s the same.
Edit: Yes, researchers have identified widespread Paratuberculosis infections in India. “Our research on screening of over 26,000 domestic livestock for MAP infection using 4 different diagnostic tests (microscopy, culture, ELISA and PCR), during last 31 years has shown that the average bio-load of MAP in the livestock population of India is very high (cattle 43%, buffaloes 36%, goats 23% and sheep 41%).” [1]
A factor that devastates African vulture populations is when poachers lace carcasses (e.g. rhinos killed for their horns) with poison, because vultures circling a kill reveal the presence of the poachers to wardens. A single big poisoned carcass can kill dozens of vultures at a time, of multiple species.
If it's consumption of NSAID's that are killing the vultures, are the towers themselves not a risk? Are the dosages/drugs given to humans not a problem? Or is there some sort of preparation that would remove the NSAID's?
I tried to research the Zoroastrian procedure, but it got gory pretty fast.
I'm in South East, USA, vice the Indian subcontinent. Did something happen here within the last year? (Maybe the same thing?) I haven't seen vultures (Turkey vultures) in maybe 3/4 of a year. They are usually ubiquitous and highly visible due to large wingspan, staying airborne for long periods etc, using thermals from roads/concrete etc that make them common in human-populated areas.
The challenge can be solved entirely by vaccines, it’s just not prioritized. You can simply “cull” a sick cow and sell the diseased meat in the grocery store.
The article doesn’t say what the inflammatory diseases in the cows are in India, but I wonder if it’s the same.
Edit: Yes, researchers have identified widespread Paratuberculosis infections in India. “Our research on screening of over 26,000 domestic livestock for MAP infection using 4 different diagnostic tests (microscopy, culture, ELISA and PCR), during last 31 years has shown that the average bio-load of MAP in the livestock population of India is very high (cattle 43%, buffaloes 36%, goats 23% and sheep 41%).” [1]
[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29090657/