Diclofenac residues as the cause of vulture population decline in Pakistan

J. Lindsay Oaks (), Martin Gilbert, Munir Z. Virani, Richard T. Watson, Carol U. Meteyer, Bruce A. Rideout, H. L. Shivaprasad, Shakeel Ahmed, Muhammad Jamshed Iqbal Chaudhry, Muhammad Arshad, Shahid Mahmood, Ahmad Ali and Aleem Ahmed Khan
Additional contact information
J. Lindsay Oaks: Washington State University
Martin Gilbert: The Peregrine Fund
Munir Z. Virani: The Peregrine Fund
Richard T. Watson: The Peregrine Fund
Carol U. Meteyer: USGS–National Wildlife Health Center
Bruce A. Rideout: Zoological Society of San Diego
H. L. Shivaprasad: University of California at Davis
Shakeel Ahmed: Bahauddin Zakariya University
Muhammad Jamshed Iqbal Chaudhry: Bahauddin Zakariya University
Muhammad Arshad: Bahauddin Zakariya University
Shahid Mahmood: Bahauddin Zakariya University
Ahmad Ali: Bahauddin Zakariya University
Aleem Ahmed Khan: Bahauddin Zakariya University

Nature, 2004, vol. 427, issue 6975, 630-633

Abstract: Abstract The Oriental white-backed vulture (OWBV; Gyps bengalensis) was once one of the most common raptors in the Indian subcontinent1. A population decline of >95%, starting in the 1990s, was first noted at Keoladeo National Park, India2. Since then, catastrophic declines, also involving Gyps indicus and Gyps tenuirostris, have continued to be reported across the subcontinent3. Consequently these vultures are now listed as critically endangered by BirdLife International4. In 2000, the Peregrine Fund initiated its Asian Vulture Crisis Project with the Ornithological Society of Pakistan, establishing study sites at 16 OWBV colonies in the Kasur, Khanewal and Muzaffargarh–Layyah Districts of Pakistan to measure mortality at over 2,400 active nest sites5. Between 2000 and 2003, high annual adult and subadult mortality (5–86%) and resulting population declines (34–95%) (ref. 5 and M.G., manuscript in preparation) were associated with renal failure and visceral gout. Here, we provide results that directly correlate residues of the anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac with renal failure. Diclofenac residues and renal disease were reproduced experimentally in OWBVs by direct oral exposure and through feeding vultures diclofenac-treated livestock. We propose that residues of veterinary diclofenac are responsible for the OWBV decline.

Date: 2004
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DOI: 10.1038/nature02317

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