Bird flu threatens to crash vulture populations worldwide

Vultures are nature’s clean-up crew: they remove carcasses and help stop disease from spreading. Now a disease is threatening them. A paper in Conservation Biology, with input from Jon Morant of the University of the Basque Country (EHU), warns that bird flu could cause vulture populations to collapse worldwide.

Another threat on top of the rest

16 of the world’s 23 vulture species are already of conservation concern, mainly because of poisoning and other human threats. Bird flu makes it worse:

• Thousands of black and turkey vultures have died in the United States and South America.
• The California condor lost around 6% of its wild population in six weeks, and the Andean condor has also been hit hard.
• In Europe, the bearded vulture has suffered serious losses.
• The virus has infected more than 48 mammal species worldwide.

A vicious circle

When vultures die, more carcasses are left lying around, helping pathogens spread and fuelling more infections.

“The more infected carrion there is, the greater the risk of bird flu spreading to vultures,” warns Morant, who notes these birds “provide one of the most important ecosystem services for human well-being”.

Five measures

The authors propose:

1. Monitor vulture populations.
2. Consider vaccination campaigns where risk and logistics justify them.
3. Manage carcasses of infected animals.
4. Set protocols for handling vultures.
5. Promote local action plans.

And in Spain?

Spain is home to most of Europe’s vultures. In the Basque Country the griffon vulture is doing well, but the more sensitive Egyptian vulture and migratory species need special attention. Meet one of the most threatened in our feature on the bearded vulture.

If you find a dead bird on the trail, don’t touch it and report it to wildlife rangers or emergency services.