WSU Veterinary Researcher Helps Find Cause of Rare Vultures’ Deaths
PULLMAN, Wash. -- Three years of hard work by Washington State University researcher Lindsay Oaks have led to a major discovery linking the decline of three Asian vulture species to a drug commonly used to treat livestock there.
Oaks, a microbiologist with the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine, worked with an international team of scientists on the problem. The findings of their work will be published in the journal Nature (www.Nature.com/nature).
Oaks will join a team of experts to speak at an international summit meeting Feb. 5-6 in Katmandu, Nepal. The team will reveal additional details of their findings and propose possible solutions to help mitigate the long-term decline of these rare species.
The paper links the veterinary use of the anti-inflammatory drug
diclofenac in domestic livestock with the catastrophic crash of
three species of raptors. The discovery is the result of a
three-year effort by an international team of scientists, assembled
and led by The Peregrine Fund, and included members from WSU, the
Ornithological Society of Pakistan, Bird Conservation Nepal, the
Zoological Society of San Diego, the National Wildlife Health
Center, the University of California and University of Idaho.
Click for complete story from WSU News
Service.