'Dogs outnumber endangered vultures in consuming carcasses'

The declining population of endangered vultures has proven to be a catalyst for the growing stray dog population at landfills and dump sites across the country where the canines are monopolizing the task of disposing of carcasses instead of their winged competitors.

- ANJALI SINGH

Chetan Misher, a Wildlife Biologist, told The Sunday Guardian, "During the 1990s, the vulture population declined drastically. This is the same time when it is assumed that the dog population has risen because there are plenty of carcasses left to be consumed by some species. The dogs took advantage of the niche emptied by the vultures. Now dogs are a larger number on the dumps and vultures are in a very low number on those dump sites and they get competitive advantage based on the numbers." 

According to a research paper, "The global impact of domestic dogs on threatened vertebrates", domestic dogs have contributed to 11 vertebrate extinctions and are a known or potential threat to 188 threatened species worldwide. This includes 96 mammals (33 families), 78 birds (25 families), 22 reptiles (10 families), and three amphibian (three families) Species. Of these threatened species, 30 are classed as Critically Endangered (two of which are classed 'possibly extinct'), 71 Endangered, and 87 Vulnerable.