Scavengers, especially vultures, provide one of the most important yet underappreciated and little-studied ecosystem services of any avian group. A ‘before and after’ study comparing carcass decomposition rates would have been valuable in quantifying the ecological and societal effects of the population crash of vultures in the Indian subcontinent [9]. If worldwide vulture declines continue, finding an intact community will be increasingly difficult. Therefore,comparative studies on the ecological significance of this unique group are urgently needed.