The ecology and life history of avian scavengers place them at particularly high conservation risk. Their dietary reliance on carrion increases exposure to food-borne pathogens and toxins, while their gregarious behavior can amplify population-level impacts of disease or poisoning. These anthropogenic threats are especially acute in the northeastern Indian Subcontinent, one of the most densely populated human landscapes on Earth. Community-based conservation has been crucial to recent successes, including the recovery of the greater adjutant (Leptoptilos dubius, locally hargila), yet geographically isolated populations of this species – as well as globally important populations of threatened vultures and Pallas’s fish eagles (Haliaeetus leucoryphus) – remain at significant risk.

This proposed exploratory exchange will identify opportunities to strengthen and scale avian scavenger conservation programs in Assam and Bangladesh through a holistic approach, integrating wildlife health and livelihood expertise from the Cornell K. Lisa Yang Center for Wildlife Health and the University of Calgary. The project will initiate a structured, interdisciplinary collaboration with local conservation organizations to assess current health and livelihood-related challenges and capacity gaps.