Vulture Deaths Bring Rise in Rabies

The catastrophic decline of the vulture population in India, vital to cleaning the streets of offal and rubbish, has led to an explosion in the number of feral dogs and an increasing human death toll from rabies.

An unknown virus has been killing three species of the once numerous vultures in the last 10 years. This has led to a crisis.

Habitually butchers threw offal outside for the vultures, which effectively solved the waste problem. The vulture's niche has now been taken over by feral dogs, the main carriers of rabies. More people now die of rabies in India than anywhere else.

Zoroastrians have had to abandon their traditional practice of placing their dead on Towers of Silence for the vultures to eat.

So alarmed has the government become about the diminished vulture population they have set up a rehabilitation centre to save sick birds and release them into the wild.

Britain has donated £145,000 for a centre near Delhi and Elliot Morley, the department of the environment minister for wildlife will officially open it on Saturday. Mr Morley said "There has been a very high mortality, around 97% of vultures have disappeared."