EGG‑NEWS.com

Diclofenac a veterinary non-steroid anti-inflammatory agent is responsible for mortality in vultures and eagles following approval of the product to be administered to livestock in Spain and Italy.

Previously the drug was implicated in widespread poisoning of vultures in India, Nepal and Bangladesh.  The demise of carrion birds as a result of diclofenac toxicity created a secondary problem of an upsurge in the feral dog population with a consequential increase in rabies.

Vultures dead from diclofenac toxicity from consuming a single cattle carcass

Base on the presumption that dead cattle are disposed of by hygienic measures, diclofenac was approved in the two E.U. nations.  Unfortunately carcasses are still subject to consumption by carrion birds threatening a number of species.  It is estimated that there are only 300 pairs of Imperial Spanish eagles remaining in Southern Europe and the four species of vultures including the Bearded, Cinereous, Egyptian and Griffon species are at extreme risk.