The Vultures This Man Loves May Soon Disappear
October 15, 2015 - Would you care if vultures were dying because of a man-made drug? Meet a man in Spain who really cares about vultures—so much so that he travels great distances and climbs rocks to feed them. The majority of Europe's vultures live in Spain, and these vultures are in danger of being decimated, following the country's legalization in March 2013 of two products that contain the drug diclofenac, which is used as an anti-inflammatory and painkiller in cows and other livestock. The drug is blamed for killing upwards of 99 percent of vultures in India in a single decade. Vultures play an important ecological role in disposing of dead animals. And they die within a few days after eating the carcass of an animal recently given diclofenac.
Transcript
MANUEL AGUILAR SANZ, ORNITHOLOGIST, PRESIDENT OF FONDO AMIGOS DEL BUITRE (FRIENDS OF VULTURES ASSOCIATION):
You leave the dead body of an animal
on the ground.
Vultures come and eat it.
A bearded vulture comes and takes the
bones.
Nothing remains. It's the most natural thing in the world.
I come once a week and bring sheep's
paws,
bones, and other remains taken from a slaughterhouse.
Everything is reviewed by a
veterinarian.
This food is not suitable for people.
We bring all this to our feeder,
the feeder of the Fondo Amigos del Buitre.
I was ten years old, and my
grandfather
showed me vultures for the first time.
That moment is
recorded in my mind.
Since then, they've been my whole life.
It was impressive.
I was ten, and they were taller than I was.
My grandfather said to me,
"They're just little birds."
I thought they would be small—like
this.
I didn't think they'd be such big things.
I've been studying these birds all my
life,
since that moment.
I've been with them every day of my
life.
This makes me happy.
ANTONI MARGALIDA, ZOOLOGIST, LLEIDA UNIVERSITY:
In India, between 1990 and 2000,
between 95% and 99% of three species of vultures disappeared.
The cause was diclofenac.
Diclofenac is given to animals in pain—with a limp, for example.
If that animal
dies and is eaten by vultures
less than eight hours after its death,
it provokes the immediate death of
the vultures.
MANUEL AGUILAR SANZ, ORNITHOLOGIST, PRESIDENT OF FONDO AMIGOS DEL BUITRE (FRIENDS OF VULTURES ASSOCIATION):
We're now reaching Santa Cilia de
Panzano,
which is in the Cañones y Sierra de Guara Natural Park.
ANTONI MARGALIDA, ZOOLOGIST, LLEIDA UNIVERSITY:
In Spain, in March 2013, two products
were legalized:
Dolofenac and Diclovet. Both of them contain diclofenac.
It is counterintuitive with respect
to what happened in India,
as 95% of the European vulture community lives in Spain.
The demographic models we're now
implementing
indicate an annual range of mortality of between 600 and 6,000 individuals.
MANUEL AGUILAR SANZ, ORNITHOLOGIST, PRESIDENT OF FONDO AMIGOS DEL BUITRE (FRIENDS OF VULTURES ASSOCIATION):
When they see the red jacket,
they associate it with food.
They trust the red jacket.
They know a human being is going to feed them,
and take care of them.
They are noble-minded.
Where is
Pinto? I can't see him.
Let go of the bag, let go of the bag!
ANTONI MARGALIDA, ZOOLOGIST, LLEIDA UNIVERSITY:
In India the
models indicated that
less than one percent of contaminated cadavers
would be enough to destroy between
95% and 99%
of the vulture community.
MANUEL AGUILAR SANZ, ORNITHOLOGIST, PRESIDENT OF FONDO AMIGOS DEL BUITRE (FRIENDS OF VULTURES ASSOCIATION):
You eat a lot, dude!
Canella didn't eat so much.
We have to recognize that it is a
unique species.
It only exists in this peninsula.
If you find it outside the peninsula,
it's because it has been reintroduced.
This is the Eurasian griffon.
It's a natural treasure—a jewel—we have in the Iberian Peninsula.
I can't imagine a world and my homeland
without vultures.
I say this with all my heart:
If vultures disappeared, I'd like to disappear with them.
