The Indian vulture is a scavenger, feeding mostly on carcasses of dead animals. It is an endangered species, and efforts are being made to save its declining population.
India's beleaguered and endangered vulture population now faces another threat that may kill those birds that survived poisoning by a now-banned livestock drug.
The country's Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCBM) told the tabloid Mail Today on Sunday that the scavenger birds are succumbing to a new strain of avian malaria, which is spread by mosquitoes.
Wildlife experts had been puzzled as to why the vultures continued to die long after the drug Diclofenac was no longer being distributed and used in livestock.
The medication caused kidney failure that nearly wiped out the birds after they consumed the carcasses of treated animals during the past few years.
CCBM researchers say that they have been able to administer anti-malarial drugs to some vultures critically ill with the new strain of the parasite, leading to their recovery.
Photo: Stock