Anthrax, rabies to be epidemic with extinction of vulture

Zoonotic diseases like anthrax and rabies will be epidemic in Bangladesh with the demise of vulture population, which are currently at risk of extinction, biologists warned.
They said the vultures eat the carcasses of cattle and digest poisonous germs and since other animals can not digest germs contained in carcasses of cattle, the zoonotic diseases will be widespread with the disappearance of vulture species.
Bangladesh has completely lost its two resident vulture species — red-headed vulture and slender-billed vulture — and is now about to lose the last of the species, the white-rumped vulture.
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Bangladesh and the Forest Department under the Ministry of Environment and Forests organised the discussion on the ‘Impact of Impending Extinction of Vultures on Environment and Public Health in Bangladesh’ at Jatiya Press Club Monday, according to a news agency.
In his power-point presentation, president of Bangladesh Bird Club Enam Ul Haque said the white-rumped vulture might disappear from the country in next five years despite the initiatives taken to save it.
Identifying the decline of vulture a risk to public health, he said that with the falling number of vultures, incidents of anthrax and rabies have increased several times in India and such incidents might be on the rise in Bangladesh.