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	Consequences of declines Vultures are extremely effective and efficient scavengers, with a flock of birds being able to reduce an adult cow carcass to bare bones within an hour. This rapid carcass cleaning mechanism has been the traditional way of disposing of carcasses in Asia and placing carcasses of animals on the outskirts of villages or at large municipal dumps was and still is common practice. The collapse in vulture numbers in the Indian subcontinent means that there is now an abundance of available meat and carcasses across the region, and other scavengers are now filling the gap left by vultures. The mass of meat that used to be disposed of by vultures was astronomical. While vultures may only feed every 2-4 days on average they need to consume around a 1/3 of a kilogram of meat each day in order to fulfil there energetic requirements. Over a year a single bird will consume around 120 kg. During the early 1990s there were an estimated 100 to 160 million vultures in India. These vultures would have annually consumed around 20 million tonnes of carrion.


	With the almost complete collapse in vulture numbers South Asia has now lost 99% of the carcass disposal system that used to be taken by vultures. The result is that vulture declines have been associated with an increase in feral dog populations across the region, with government statistics in India showing that feral dog populations that numbered 17-18 million in the early 1980s were close to 30 million in 2005. These increases have occurred despite intensive control measure to limit the feral dog population in India. At carcass dumps the situation is even more severe, with packs of several hundred dogs occurring in the place of the hundreds or thousands of vultures that used to be present. Such large packs of dogs are very aggressive and the Indian press has reported several cases of children and adults being killed by feral dogs. The increase in dog numbers and increase in rotting animal carcasses has major implications for the potential risk of both human and animal diseases, including diseases such as anthrax, brucellosis and TB. Of major concern is the likelihood that the increasing dog population is furthering the spread of rabies in the region. India has the highest incidence of rabies in the World (c. 60% of all documented cases) and of the 20,000 cases each year 96% of these are a result of dog bites. An economic evaluation of the costs associated with the decline of vultures and management and cost of rabies in India, estimates that over the period 1993-2006 the health costs attributable to vulture declines would be in the regions of US$ 34 billion. The costs of conserving vultures are a fraction of this total. Follow this link for more on this estimate

Parsi's and the 'Towers of Silence'

The Parsi religion prohibits the interment or cremation of their dead. Instead, they practice a 'sky burial' where they leave their dead in the open to allow the elements to dispose of the bodies. In India, vultures are responsible for cleaning the bodies left in the open at ceremonial centres such as the 'Towers of Silence' in Mumbai (see left). In the past the resident vulture population was able to clean the bodies in a matter of hours. However, since the declines the Parsis are having a difficult time taking care of their dead.

Similar sky burials are also practised by Buddhist communities on the Tibetan plateau, although it is not known if this practise has been affected by a decline in vultures.