Where have all the buzzards gone?

SKY BURIAL
There are still Parsis,who believe
that every element is Sacred-
air,water,earth,fire
so they bequeath their bodies to vultures
who traditionally have scavenged India
ridding road kill of tubercolosis,brucellosis and foot in mouth
From 30 million white backed vultures in 1980
there are now only eleven thousand.Once they eat
bodies that have ingested diclofenac(ibuprofen/aspirin)
they develop gout and die within weeks.
Attempts to breed vultures in captivity are slow and limited by those
who suggest instead"vulture restaurants"
where diclofenac-free meat is dumped in open fields to attract wild birds
Yet 70%of all rabies deaths occur in India-where the demise of vultures coincides
with a growth in the population of wild dogs(who also attack humans)
Hindus believe Bhaivara(a reincarnation of Shiva)manifests as a dog
just as vultures represent the Hindu god Jatayu who tried to save Sita when she was kidnapped.
Zoroastrians still use dhokmas(Towers of Silence)for sky burials-but Parsis are few(50,000 in Mumbai,100,000 world-wide)
Nasarsarlas(Parsis undertakers) must now clear half-digested bodies into ossaries
Dogs are everywhere,but vultures are gone.Something as simple as aspirin
has cleared the skies and almost ended all sky burials...