Anat Surishan

Anat Surishan, an economist and visiting scholar with a childhood fascination for vultures, dives deep into their puzzling decline in India during the 1990s. The conversation unveils how a veterinary painkiller triggered a cascade of ecological disasters, including rabid dog outbreaks and polluted waterways, leading to over 100,000 human deaths annually. With estimates of the economic fallout reaching $69.4 billion, Anat illustrates why vultures are vital cleanup agents in ecosystems, emphasizing the intricate connections between species extinctions and human health.