A vulture in Spain has become the first reported case in Europe to die from the anti-inflammatory medicine diclofenac, a scientific journal has confirmed, prompting conservationists to call for an urgent ban on the drug.

The fledgling cinereous vulture, born in 2020 at a reserve in north-east Spain, died of poisoning from diclofenac – an anti-inflammatory painkiller given to treat injured animals – according to a study this month in Science of the Total Environment.

Diclofenac is very toxic for vultures, which eat the carrion of cattle and other animals. Conservation groups want it banned in Europe.

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The drug played a part in the dramatic decline of vultures found in South Asia during the 1990s and is now banned in the region. Europe is believed to be the only continent where vulture populations are recovering.

The study First diclofenac intoxication in a wild avian scavenger in Europe concluded following the death in Spain that "the regulations imposed to avoid diclofenac intoxication in vultures are not, at least in some cases, being enforced."

Diclofenac was authorized to be used in 2013 by vets in Spain and it is also permitted by the European Union. 

Spain has the highest vulture population in Europe, including the cinereous vulture which is classified as "near threatened" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

There were 15 breeding pairs found at the the Boumort National Hunting Reserve in Catalonia, in 2020, out of a total of 61 birds. A fledgling was found dead last September from diclofenac poisoning.

"This is the first case of diclofenac poisoning in Spain (and in Europe), in addition to being the first report of diclofenac poisoning in cinereous vultures," said the study. "This case report, therefore, supports the need to closely monitor vulture populations and carry out strict regulatory measures with which to prevent these poisonings."

The conservation partnership BirdLife International has hit out at the way diclofenac is being licensed.

"The evidence found in Spain sadly confirms what we have been warning about for almost a decade," said Ivan Ramirez, senior head of conservation for BirdLife Europe and Central Asia. "Vultures are already dying from veterinary diclofenac poisoning and this could already be affecting their population trends.

"It is very difficult to monitor and test every single bird in the wild, and it is absurd to keep insisting on licensing a drug that kills threatened species when there are plenty of other safe and cheap alternatives in Europe."

BirdLife International has stated it will "contact the European Medicines Agency, the EU authorities and other international treaties such as the Convention of Migratory Species, and will coordinate with its national partners and allies to demand an urgent ban on this product."