Vultures which used to be very common in Indian countryside some years ago are rarely seen nowadays. This is attributed to:
Answer & explanation
Answer: (b) a drug used by cattle owners for treating their discased cattle
Vultures died after feeding on carcasses of cattle treated with the anti-inflammatory painkiller diclofenac. The drug is used to treat cattle but causes kidney failure in vultures. Nesting sites, food scarcity and disease were not the cause of the crash.
- ✗ (a) The steep decline was traced to diclofenac in cattle carcasses, which is identified as the chief cause. Invasive species destroying nesting sites was not the cause.
- ✓ (b) Cattle owners treated sick animals with diclofenac, a commonly used anti-inflammatory drug. Vultures that fed on the carcasses of these animals were poisoned and died, which led India to ban the veterinary use of diclofenac.
- ✗ (c) Food was not scarce. Cattle carcasses were still available, but those from animals treated with diclofenac were toxic to the vultures that ate them.
- ✗ (d) The deaths were caused by drug poisoning, not by an infectious disease. Diclofenac causes kidney failure and visceral gout in vultures.
Remember · Diclofenac, a veterinary anti-inflammatory drug given to cattle, caused kidney failure in vultures that fed on the carcasses. Its veterinary use was banned in India, and meloxicam is the vulture-safe alternative.
Sources
- PIB, MoEFCC: Environment Ministry Recommends Ban on Multidose Vial of Diclofenac to Save Vultures (18 Sep 2015) ↗ “The commonly-used anti-inflammatory drug for cattle is considered the chief cause for the steep decline in the number of vultures in recent years.”
- PIB, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare: Banned Medicines ↗ “The vulture population was depleting as it was observed that vultures fed on carcass of animals treated with diclofenac were dying.”
Question: UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) 2012, General Studies Paper I. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 25 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·
