This poetic narrative traces the catastrophic decline of vultures in India due to the veterinary use of diclofenac, revealing how their disappearance led to public health crises. A haunting reflection on ecological imbalance, human responsibility, and the cost of ignorance.
In the future when all is said and done
And vultures are found only in picture books and the zoo
And machines have replaced their sanitation function
When we understand what we have done to the earth , the vultures and our futureWho my friend will be there to answer this question,Who or what caused disappearanceOf the vultures?Will it be either you or I?
We as human beings
Have been surviving In cities, towns and villages
By growing cattle for milk and for meat
Using medicines
To make cattle
More healthy and strong
Vultures were our sister beings living in the same cities towns and villages
When the cattle we grew died
Vultures converted the carcass into bone
In less than forty five minutes
Keeping our environment sanitised and free of disease
We were unaware of this service vultures provided
Till rotting carcasses started to accumulate around our dwellings
We realized that
The ever present bird
had suddenly disappeared
There were no more vultures
To do our work
It took a long time for us to figure out
What action of ours had exterminated the vultures
Our farmers started injecting diclofenac, a pain medication into ailing cattle
When animals died, vultures devoured diclofenac rich meat
They died in epidemic form due to kidney failure
The drug we injected to make cattle economically more productive had caused Near extinction
Of the vulture population
(The story did not end here)
We found that the decline of vultures
From seventy million population to few hundredsHad increased stray dog population and made water unsafe
May have increased deaths by more than one lakh
Due to diarrhea, rabies and zoonotic diseases
Among the human population
The lesson we learned was too late
The government banned animal use of diclofenac
Set up a conservation center
Growing baby vultures
Releasing them into the wild
To bring back the keystone species, provide sanitation for our population
In the future when all is said and done
And vultures are found only in picture books and the zoo
And machines have replaced their sanitation function
When we understand what we have done to the earth , the vultures and our future
Who my friend will be there to answer this question,
Who or what caused disappearance
Of the vultures?
Will it be either you or I?
Author's note:
I wrote the poem after reading the article titled, ‘The sixth mass extinction is here—and it’s killing humans too’ on Frontline magazine on Mar 26, 2025. The article can be accessed here.
This article compelled me to consider the public health implications of mass extinctions of keystone species.
A keystone species, which can be any organism, from animals and plants to bacteria and fungi, is the glue that holds a habitat together. It may not be the largest or most abundant species in an ecological community. Still, if a keystone species is removed, it sets off a chain of events that transforms the structure and biodiversity of its habitat into something very different.
The three vulture species in India that went extinct - the White-rumped vulture, the Slender-billed vulture, and the Long-billed vulture - served as keystone species for our environment.
I use poetry to pose questions that would be difficult to articulate through prose. I suggest further reading on the issue at this link.
Edited by Christianez Ratna Kiruba
Image by Christianez Ratna Kiruba
