088 The Quiet Cleaner
Hey Vulture, nobody thanks you for clearing away what we leave behind. When you nearly vanished from India, the dead lay rotting and sickness spread.
Who quietly cleans up after us?
Who quietly cleans up after you?
Outside a village, a dead cow lies in a field. Within hours, the vultures arrive.
By evening, nothing is left but bones.
What really happens
Vultures eat dead animals and clear away carcasses quickly.
In the 1990s and 2000s, India's vultures crashed by more than 95 percent, poisoned by the painkiller diclofenac given to cattle. Carcasses lay rotting, stray dogs increased, and diseases like rabies spread.
How we know: Oaks and colleagues, Nature, 2004, linked the crash to diclofenac; India banned its veterinary use in 2006.
The turn
We seldom notice those who clean up after us.
Sometimes we only see their value when they are gone.
Three takeaways
- Value the quiet cleaners.
- What we ignore can hold the system together.
- Notice before you lose.
Thank the cleaner before you miss them.
When the Well's dry, we know the Worth of Water.