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Extinction Threat to Vultures Linked to Cattle Pharmaceutical
WSU veterinary researcher leads discovery team.
Three years of hard work have led to a major discovery linking the
decline of three vulture species to a drug commonly used to treat
livestock in Pakistan
Dr.
Lindsay Oaks, a microbiologist with the Washington State University
College of Veterinary Medicine, worked with an international team of
scientists on the problem. |
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The findings of their
work are published in the journal Nature (WWW.Nature.com/nature).
The paper links the veterinary use of the anti-inflammatory drug “diclofenac”
in domestic livestock with the catastrophic crash of three species of
raptors. The discovery is the result of a three-year effort by an
international team of scientists. The team was assembled and led by
The Peregrine Fund and included members from WSU, The Ornithological
Society of Pakistan, Bird Conservation Nepal, the Zoological Society
of San Diego, the National Wildlife Health Center and University of
California.
“This discovery is significant in that it is the first known case of a
pharmaceutical causing major ecological damage over a huge geographic
area and threatening three species with extinction,” said Dr. Oaks of
WSU, the lead diagnostic investigator for The Peregrine Fund’s team.
For example, the Oriental White-backed vulture was once one of the
most common raptors on the entire Indian sub-continent, if not the
world. But over the
last decade, population losses of more than 95 percent have been
reported in many areas.
In conducting the research, the team analyzed the remains of 259
vultures, of which 85 percent died from the same problem: renal
failure. Preliminary research indicated that the kidney disease was
due to a toxin and all of the conventional causes of kidney disease in
birds was ruled out. Based on surveys of veterinarians in the region,
it was theorized that an anti-inflammatory drug called diclofenac, may
be responsible. The drug is commonly used to treat livestock and is
known to cause kidney damage in both birds and mammals. Cattle that
die are the primary food source for the vultures. Testing soon showed
that tissues from all of the affected vultures contained residues of
diclofenac. When the records were examined, widespread veterinary use
of diclofenac in south Asia also coincided with the population decline
of the vultures.
Dr. Oaks will join a team of experts to speak at an international
summit meeting, Feb. 5-6 in Katmandu, Nepal. The team will reveal
additional details of their findings and propose possible solutions to
help mitigate the long-term decline of these rare species.
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Lindsay Oaks, (509) 335-6044
Jeff Cilek, The Peregrine Fund, (208) 362-3811, or (208) 890-6685
-images and broadcast quality video are available through The
Peregrine Fund
Darin Watkins PIO, WSU College of Veterinarian Medicine (509) 335-4456
Asian vulture populations are being felled at an alarming rate by
arthritis drug
By Richard A. Lovett
UNION-TRIBUNE
February 2, 2005
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