Livestock drugs and disease: the fatal combination behind breeding failure in endangered bearded vultures.
There is increasing concern about the impact of veterinary drugs and livestock pathogens as factors damaging wildlife health, especially of threatened avian scavengers feeding upon medicated livestock carcasses. We conducted a comprehensive study of failed eggs and dead nestlings in bearded vultures...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2010-01-01
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Series: | PLoS ONE |
Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC2994777?pdf=render |
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author | Guillermo Blanco Jesús A Lemus |
author_facet | Guillermo Blanco Jesús A Lemus |
author_sort | Guillermo Blanco |
collection | DOAJ |
description | There is increasing concern about the impact of veterinary drugs and livestock pathogens as factors damaging wildlife health, especially of threatened avian scavengers feeding upon medicated livestock carcasses. We conducted a comprehensive study of failed eggs and dead nestlings in bearded vultures (Gypaetus barbatus) to attempt to elucidate the proximate causes of breeding failure behind the recent decline in productivity in the Spanish Pyrenees. We found high concentrations of multiple veterinary drugs, primarily fluoroquinolones, in most failed eggs and nestlings, associated with multiple internal organ damage and livestock pathogens causing disease, especially septicaemia by swine pathogens and infectious bursal disease. The combined impact of drugs and disease as stochastic factors may result in potentially devastating effects exacerbating an already high risk of extinction and should be considered in current conservation programs for bearded vultures and other scavenger species, especially in regards to dangerous veterinary drugs and highly pathogenic poultry viruses. |
first_indexed | 2024-12-11T20:14:16Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-d427c355d6cf403fb298dcb2b1d9ecdb |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 1932-6203 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-12-11T20:14:16Z |
publishDate | 2010-01-01 |
publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
record_format | Article |
series | PLoS ONE |
spelling | doaj.art-d427c355d6cf403fb298dcb2b1d9ecdb2022-12-22T00:52:13ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032010-01-01511e1416310.1371/journal.pone.0014163Livestock drugs and disease: the fatal combination behind breeding failure in endangered bearded vultures.Guillermo BlancoJesús A LemusThere is increasing concern about the impact of veterinary drugs and livestock pathogens as factors damaging wildlife health, especially of threatened avian scavengers feeding upon medicated livestock carcasses. We conducted a comprehensive study of failed eggs and dead nestlings in bearded vultures (Gypaetus barbatus) to attempt to elucidate the proximate causes of breeding failure behind the recent decline in productivity in the Spanish Pyrenees. We found high concentrations of multiple veterinary drugs, primarily fluoroquinolones, in most failed eggs and nestlings, associated with multiple internal organ damage and livestock pathogens causing disease, especially septicaemia by swine pathogens and infectious bursal disease. The combined impact of drugs and disease as stochastic factors may result in potentially devastating effects exacerbating an already high risk of extinction and should be considered in current conservation programs for bearded vultures and other scavenger species, especially in regards to dangerous veterinary drugs and highly pathogenic poultry viruses.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC2994777?pdf=render |
spellingShingle | Guillermo Blanco Jesús A Lemus Livestock drugs and disease: the fatal combination behind breeding failure in endangered bearded vultures. PLoS ONE |
title | Livestock drugs and disease: the fatal combination behind breeding failure in endangered bearded vultures. |
title_full | Livestock drugs and disease: the fatal combination behind breeding failure in endangered bearded vultures. |
title_fullStr | Livestock drugs and disease: the fatal combination behind breeding failure in endangered bearded vultures. |
title_full_unstemmed | Livestock drugs and disease: the fatal combination behind breeding failure in endangered bearded vultures. |
title_short | Livestock drugs and disease: the fatal combination behind breeding failure in endangered bearded vultures. |
title_sort | livestock drugs and disease the fatal combination behind breeding failure in endangered bearded vultures |
url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC2994777?pdf=render |
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