"Vulture Populations Wane, Poisoned by Man"

"MASAI MARA NATIONAL RESERVE, Kenya — Death feeds life on the Mara. Each summer, 500,000 wildebeests die along the treacherous migration from the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania to the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. And with death come the scavengers, none more important than the vulture.

But the birds that once feasted on that misfortune, the janitors that clean the grassy plains, are collapsing — part of a broader decline in vulture populations that throws off ecosystems and illustrates how far-reaching the effects of poaching, poisoning and other human interventions can be."

Marc Santora reports for the New York Times August 26, 2015.