Research overview: secondary poisoning, vultures, and ecosystem effects of retaliation

This overview examines the wider ecological fallout of retaliatory poisoning aimed at big cats, especially the catastrophic secondary poisoning of vultures and other scavengers that feed on laced carcasses. It synthesises evidence that poison set for lions, leopards, and hyenas has driven steep declines in African vulture populations, with cascading consequences for carcass disposal and disease regulation. The literature connects predator-conflict mitigation to vulture conservation, arguing that addressing depredation and the availability of agricultural poisons benefits entire scavenger guilds. The survey frames retaliatory poisoning as a conflict practice whose harm radiates far beyond the targeted predator, making nonlethal mitigation and pesticide control issues of broad ecosystem and biodiversity importance.