Nature Shock on Five and the law of unintended consequences

[garethr]

Cattle are sacred in India.

It's a criminal offence to allow a cow to suffer or to put it down.

Their owners cannot put them down if they are ill or injured so they dose them with a pain killer - diclofenac.

When the cattle do eventually die they are taken to carcass dumps.

There are thousand of vultures to eat the dead cattle.

 

But...

Diclofenac causes kidney failure in vultures and 99% of the vulture population disappears (50% a year).

Because there are no vultures the carcasses are available to the pariah dogs.

Because there is more food for the dogs the pariah dog population increases.

Because there are so many dogs leopards come into the cities to hunt the dogs.

The leopards kill people.

People kill the leopards.

The leopard is endangered.

 

 

There are some additional effects:

There are more dog attacks on humans.

There are more rabies cases.

The Parsees cannot dispose of their dead.

 

A fascinating, but scary, reminder that we're still linked to the rest of nature.

 

On Demand Five -- http://demand.five.tv/Episode.aspx?episodeBaseName=C5153550001