New evidence that Egyptian vultures may also be affected by diclofenac Galligan et al 2014 Egyptian and redhead Adobe Acrobat Document 378.8 KB Download
Diclofenac causes fatal renal failure on vulture species of the genus Gyps, and indeed its widespread veterinary use in India has been linked to the 99% decline of three species of gyps vultures there in the last 15 years. When veterinary diclofenac was finally banned in India and neighbouring countries, resulting in a decrease on the prevalence and occurrence of diclofenac in carcasses, this decline slowed or reverted.
Until now it was not clear if diclofenac also affected other vulture species. However, recent census of Egyptian vultures (Neophron percnopterus) and also red-headed vulture (Sarcogyps calvus) has showed that these two species also declined markedly before the diclofenac ban, but then have either halted or even increased after 2006.
This suggests that these two species were also susceptible to Diclofenac, and that this drug may actually affect a wider range of species than previously thought. This is most relevant at a time when veterinary diclofenac was made available in Europe, and thus may further endanger the already declining Egyptian vulture
