Today saw a glimmer of hope for the three species of Asian
vulture threatened with extinction. Oriental white-backed, long-
billed, and slender-billed vultures in South Asia have suffered
one of the most rapid and widespread population declines of any
bird species, declining by more than 97% over the last 10-15
years. These declines were caused by the widespread veterinary
use of the drug diclofenac for the treatment of sick domestic
livestock throughout the Indian subcontinent. Diclofenac kills
vultures that feed on the bodies of livestock that have been
given the drug shortly before death. To combat diclofenac's
devastating effects on vulture populations, the Indian
government announced, in March 2005, its intention to phase out
the use of the drug. However, progress has been hampered by the
lack of an alternative drug that is known to be safe for
vultures yet effective for treating livestock. In a new report
published in the open access journal PLoS Biology, a team of
scientists from South Africa, Namibia,