{"id":47380,"date":"2021-03-19T19:01:54","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T23:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/?p=47380"},"modified":"2024-11-06T15:01:23","modified_gmt":"2024-11-06T20:01:23","slug":"the-race-to-save-african-vultures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/the-race-to-save-african-vultures\/","title":{"rendered":"The Race to Save African Vultures"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n              <figure class=\"size-large alignnone\">\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/RGriffon-Moning-ML65677711.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/RGriffon-Moning-ML65677711-1280x716.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/RGriffon-Moning-ML65677711-720x403.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/RGriffon-Moning-ML65677711-1280x716.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/RGriffon-Moning-ML65677711-240x135.jpg 240w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/RGriffon-Moning-ML65677711-768x430.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/RGriffon-Moning-ML65677711-1536x859.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/RGriffon-Moning-ML65677711-480x269.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/RGriffon-Moning-ML65677711.jpg 1900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" alt=\"R\u00fcppell\u2019s Griffon by Christoph Moning\/Macaulay Library\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n                <figcaption>R\u00fcppell\u2019s Griffon by <a href=\"https:\/\/macaulaylibrary.org\/asset\/65677711\">Christoph Moning\/Macaulay Library<\/a>.<\/figcaption>\n              <\/figure>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group sidebar-alignright sidebar-space order-bottom\"><div class=\"article-list list-style alignright\"><h2 class=\"article-list-header\">More From Living Bird<\/h2><ul><li class=\"article-item\"><div class=\"article-item-container\"><div class=\"article-item-media  content-living-bird-toc\"><figure class=\"article-item-media-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Spring21-TOC-FI-YTWarbler-Hennessey.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Spring21-TOC-FI-YTWarbler-Hennessey-720x405.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Spring21-TOC-FI-YTWarbler-Hennessey-240x135.jpg 240w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Spring21-TOC-FI-YTWarbler-Hennessey-480x270.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Spring21-TOC-FI-YTWarbler-Hennessey.jpg 725w\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"Living Bird Table of Contents, Yellow-throated Warbler by Ray Hennessey.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"article-item-body\"><span class=\"article-item-header\">Living Bird Spring 2021\u2014Table of Contents<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"article-item\"><div class=\"article-item-container\"><div class=\"article-item-media  content-living-bird-toc\"><figure class=\"article-item-media-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-latest.png\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-latest.png 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-latest-240x180.png 240w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-latest-480x360.png 480w\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"Living Bird-latest issue\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"article-item-body\"><span class=\"article-item-header\">Living Bird Magazine\u2014Latest Issue<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"article-item\"><div class=\"article-item-container\"><div class=\"article-item-media  content-article\"><figure class=\"article-item-media-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-acrhive.png\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-acrhive.png 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-acrhive-240x180.png 240w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-acrhive-480x360.png 480w\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"Living Bird archives\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"article-item-body\"><span class=\"article-item-header\">Living Bird Magazine Archives<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>\n<p><small>From the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/living-bird-spring-2021-table-of-contents\">Spring 2021 issue<\/a> of <em>Living Bird<\/em> magazine. <a href=\"https:\/\/join.birds.cornell.edu\/page\/14522\/donate\/1\">Subscribe now<\/a>.<\/small><\/p>\n<p>While they may not have the same inherent majesty of a pride of lions or a racing cheetah, a scrum of vultures feeding at a carcass on the African savanna is every bit as iconic of that continent as the graceful, swaying gait of a giraffe. What\u2019s more, vultures play an incred\u00adibly important ecological role\u2014hence the reason for deep alarm among conservationists about the growing col\u00adlapse of Africa\u2019s once-abundant vulture populations.<\/p>\n<p>Vultures are already the most threatened group of raptors in the world, which is why, in some respects, the unfolding crisis in Africa feels like the repeat of a bad dream that played out in South Asia in the 1990s. There, vulture populations\u2014especially in India, Pakistan, and Nepal\u2014rapidly crumbled after farmers began treating their livestock with a cheap nonste\u00adroidal anti-inflammatory pain reliever (NSAID) called diclofenac, which eases aches and increases milk yields. It\u2019s also, however, astoundingly toxic to many Old World vultures that feed on the carcasses of livestock treated with it. By 2007, vulture populations in India had dropped by as much as 99.9%, and by only slightly less apocalyptic rates else\u00adwhere in the region\u2014almost all because of diclofenac.<\/p>\n<p>Frantic, last-ditch efforts like cap\u00adtive-breeding programs and campaigns to stop the veterinary use of NSAIDs have stabilized the vulture population in Asia today, at least somewhat. But now a similar collapse is playing out across Africa\u2014with different driving forces that make the situation at once more challenging, and perhaps more hopeful, for those trying to stave off another vulture disaster.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery gallery-slideshow has-nested-images featured \" style=\"\" aria-label=\"slideshow\"><figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/slideshow-WBVulture-Phabeni-1280x874.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/slideshow-WBVulture-Phabeni-720x492.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/slideshow-WBVulture-Phabeni-1280x874.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/slideshow-WBVulture-Phabeni-768x525.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/slideshow-WBVulture-Phabeni-1536x1049.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/slideshow-WBVulture-Phabeni-480x328.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/slideshow-WBVulture-Phabeni.jpg 1805w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" alt=\"White-backed Vulture by Andr\u00e9 Botha.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">The White-backed Vulture is listed as Critically Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). <em>Image by Andr\u00e9 Botha.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/slideshow-EVulture-Botha-1280x851.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/slideshow-EVulture-Botha-720x479.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/slideshow-EVulture-Botha-1280x851.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/slideshow-EVulture-Botha-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/slideshow-EVulture-Botha-1536x1021.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/slideshow-EVulture-Botha-2048x1362.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/slideshow-EVulture-Botha-480x319.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" alt=\"Egyptian Vulture by Andr\u00e9 Botha.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">The Egyptian Vulture is listed as Endangered by the IUCN. <em>Image by by Andr\u00e9 Botha.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/slideshow-HVulture-SANTAMARIA-ML-1280x874.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/slideshow-HVulture-SANTAMARIA-ML-720x492.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/slideshow-HVulture-SANTAMARIA-ML-1280x874.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/slideshow-HVulture-SANTAMARIA-ML-768x525.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/slideshow-HVulture-SANTAMARIA-ML-1536x1049.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/slideshow-HVulture-SANTAMARIA-ML-480x328.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/slideshow-HVulture-SANTAMARIA-ML.jpg 1805w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" alt=\"Hooded Vulture by Nathalie Santa Maria\/Macaulay Library.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">The Hooded Vulture is listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN. <em>Image by <a href=\"https:\/\/macaulaylibrary.org\/asset\/204929601\">Nathalie Santa Maria\/Macaulay Library<\/a>.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/slideshow-RGriffon-Lilje-1280x874.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/slideshow-RGriffon-Lilje-720x492.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/slideshow-RGriffon-Lilje-1280x874.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/slideshow-RGriffon-Lilje-768x525.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/slideshow-RGriffon-Lilje-1536x1049.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/slideshow-RGriffon-Lilje-480x328.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/slideshow-RGriffon-Lilje.jpg 1805w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" alt=\"R\u00fcppell\u2019s Griffon by Markus Lilje\/Macaulay Library.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">R\u00fcppell\u2019s Griffon is listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN. <em>Image by <a href=\"https:\/\/macaulaylibrary.org\/asset\/206150921\">Markus Lilje\/Macaulay Library<\/a>.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n<h3>Seventy percent of African Vulture Species Are Endangered<\/h3>\n<p>Seven of Africa&#8217;s ten vulture species are now listed as endangered or critically endangered, with some populations falling by as much as 97% in the last few years. The steepest declines have occurred in West and East Africa and have even hit protected areas such as parks, with White-headed and Egyptian Vulture, and R\u00fcppell\u2019s and Cape Griffon populations dropping fastest.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group sidebar-alignright sidebar-space order-bottom\"><!--HubSpot Call-to-Action Code -->\r\n<span class=\"hs-cta-wrapper\" id=\"hs-cta-wrapper-096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da\">\r\n    <span class=\"hs-cta-node hs-cta-096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da\" id=\"hs-cta-096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da\">\r\n        <!--[if lte IE 8]><div id=\"hs-cta-ie-element\"><\/div><![endif]-->\r\n        <a href=\"http:\/\/cta-redirect.hubspot.com\/cta\/redirect\/95627\/096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da\" ><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"hs-cta-img\" id=\"hs-cta-img-096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da\" style=\"border-width:0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/95627\/096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da.png\"  alt=\"subscribe to Living Bird magazine\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\r\n    <\/span>\r\n    <script charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https:\/\/js.hscta.net\/cta\/current.js\"><\/script>\r\n    <script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n        hbspt.cta.load(95627, '096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da', {});\r\n    <\/script>\r\n<\/span>\r\n<!-- end HubSpot Call-to-Action Code -->\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n<p>The list of threats to vultures in Africa is long and complex: NSAID poi\u00adsoning (which is still a relatively minor issue compared to Asia); habitat loss; electrocution and collision with a rap\u00adidly growing power grid infrastructure; ingestion of lead ammunition from feeding on animals killed by hunters; and human disturbance at breeding col\u00adonies, including egg-collecting and rec\u00adreational rock-climbing. Food scarcity is also a problem for vultures, especially in West Africa, where large-mammal populations have fallen 60% since 1970. And vultures are frequently the unintended victims of livestock growers who illegally use pesticide-laced car\u00adcasses to kill off predators that threaten their herds, such as lions, jackals, and hyenas. Poisoning accounts for more than 60% of the vulture deaths in Africa every year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of the things that affect vultures are not aimed at vultures,\u201d says Darcy Ogada, assistant director of Africa pro\u00adgrams for the Peregrine Fund and lead author of a 2016 paper in the journal <em>Conservation Letters <\/em>that thrust Africa\u2019s vulture problem into the global limelight.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-list list-style alignright\"><h2 class=\"article-list-header\">More on Vulture Conservation in this Issue<\/h2><ul><li class=\"article-item\"><div class=\"article-item-container\"><div class=\"article-item-media  content-article\"><figure class=\"article-item-media-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/EVulture-Munck-251220581-1280x720.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/EVulture-Munck-251220581-720x405.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/EVulture-Munck-251220581-1280x720.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/EVulture-Munck-251220581-240x135.jpg 240w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/EVulture-Munck-251220581-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/EVulture-Munck-251220581-480x270.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/EVulture-Munck-251220581.jpg 1406w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" alt=\"Photo of an Egyptian Vulture in Catalu\u00f1a, Spain, by Pascal De Munck\/Macaulay Library\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"article-item-body\"><span class=\"article-item-header\">In Spain, Momentum Builds for Vulture Conservation<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n<p>But, Ogada says, the biggest threats to African vultures come when poisons are aimed directly at them. In particular, a burgeoning trade in vulture body parts for traditional belief-based use (mostly as good-luck charms) uses poisons like carbamate pesticides as the preferred method of killing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn southern Africa and parts of West Africa, people believe the use of vulture parts provides you with a degree of clairvoyance,\u201d explains Andr\u00e9 Botha, the Vultures for Africa program man\u00adager at the Endangered Wildlife Trust and cochair of the vulture specialist group for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The myth that vultures use clairvoyance to find faraway carcasses has led to the belief that consuming vulture parts can con\u00advey ESP to humans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople tend to use it for betting and gambling, but we also know examples where people used it to predict the outcome of exams,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Although there is a modest food market for smoked vulture meat, most buyers simply want to possess part of a vulture, especially the head, believing it will improve success in business, raise the IQ of children, cure a variety of illnesses, and generally bring good luck and ward off evil.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery alignwide columns-2 border is-cropped size-large\">\n                <ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/trade-vultureheads-Baino.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/trade-vultureheads-Baino.jpg 699w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/trade-vultureheads-Baino-480x472.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"The illegal trade in vulture heads marketed to students in northern Tanzania. Photos by Allan Baino.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption>Some of the illegal trade in vulture heads is marketed to students in northern Tanzania to help with their exams. <em>Photo by Allan Baino.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/trade-vulturehead-Baino.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/trade-vulturehead-Baino.jpg 699w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/trade-vulturehead-Baino-480x472.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"Parts of vultures are sold as good-luck charms and are said to provide clairvoyance. Photo by Allan Baino.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption>Parts of vultures are sold as good-luck charms and are said to provide clairvoyance. <em>Photo by Allan Baino.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n              <\/figure>\n<p>The decline and likely extirpation of White-backed Vultures from Nigeria has been blamed on belief-based trade in that country. The most shocking examples of poisoning for trade, though, have occurred in Guinea-Bissau, where more than 2,000 Hooded Vultures\u2014a species already listed as critically endangered\u2014have been killed since 2019. Hundreds of poisoned vultures have been found at a single site, many without their heads. Given that this small West African country holds about 43,000 Hooded Vultures\u2014more than a fifth of the world\u2019s population\u2014the losses have seriously alarmed conser\u00advationists, who see trade connections to larger, more populous countries like Nigeria as driving the demand. Botha notes that the use of vulture parts as charms has a long history, with hunters using traditional means to kill vultures.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut now, using modern pesticides, single incidents can kill hundreds and, as in the case of Guinea-Bissau, even thousands of birds,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>While belief uses are strongest in West Africa, the practice has a sizable foothold in southern Africa, Botha says. Experts see a disturbing rise in East Africa as well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe sort of good [vulture] pop\u00adulations remaining in West Africa probably won\u2019t stay that way for very long,\u201d Ogada warns, with the economic turmoil and job losses of the COVID-19 pandemic adding fresh incentives for people to monetize vultures.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery alignwide columns-2 border is-cropped size-large\">\n                <ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ElephantCarcas-BOtha-720x493.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ElephantCarcas-BOtha-720x493.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ElephantCarcas-BOtha-1280x877.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ElephantCarcas-BOtha-768x526.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ElephantCarcas-BOtha-480x329.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ElephantCarcas-BOtha.jpg 1309w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" alt=\"Dead vultures at an elephant carcass. Photo by Andr\u00e9 Botha.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption>Dead vultures at a poisoned elephant carcass. <em>Photo by Andr\u00e9 Botha.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ELephantCarcas-dead-Botha-720x493.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ELephantCarcas-dead-Botha-720x493.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ELephantCarcas-dead-Botha-1280x877.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ELephantCarcas-dead-Botha-768x526.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ELephantCarcas-dead-Botha-480x329.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/ELephantCarcas-dead-Botha.jpg 1309w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" alt=\"Poachers poisoned more than 100 vultures at a single elephant carcass in southern Mozambique in 2018. Photo by Andr\u00e9 Botha.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption>Poachers poisoned more than 100 vultures at a single elephant carcass in southern Mozambique in 2018. <em>Photo by Andr\u00e9 Botha.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n              <\/figure>\n<p>Ogada says African vultures are also targeted in so-called sentinel poisoning, a common practice in which elephant or rhino poachers dose a carcass with toxins to preemptively kill off vultures so there are no gathering flocks of wheeling, gangly birds circling above an illegal kill to tip off the authorities.<\/p>\n<p>The explosion in elephant poaching in the early 2000s drew international attention and condemnation, but ele\u00adphant poachers also killed enormous numbers of vultures. Most notable among numerous incidents, as many as 500 vultures died at a single poisoned carcass at a national park in Namibia, and more than 150 vultures were killed at a dosed elephant body at Kruger National Park in South Africa. (In most cases, rapid decomposition meant that conservationists were unable to deter\u00admine exactly which species of vultures were involved.)<\/p>\n<p>Sentinel poisoning is an issue that\u2019s largely beyond vulture conservationists\u2019 control, says the Peregrine Fund\u2019s Ogada. But thankfully for elephants and vultures, it may be on a downward trend. Whereas sentinel poisoning accounted for about a third of the vultures killed in Africa each year in the early 2010s, Ogada says sentinel poisoning has decreased significantly in some countries, thanks to international pressure and stronger enforcement on elephant poaching.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n              <figure class=\"size-large alignnone\">\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/CapeGriffons-Fitton-166127081.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/CapeGriffons-Fitton-166127081-1280x710.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/CapeGriffons-Fitton-166127081-720x399.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/CapeGriffons-Fitton-166127081-1280x710.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/CapeGriffons-Fitton-166127081-768x426.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/CapeGriffons-Fitton-166127081-1536x852.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/CapeGriffons-Fitton-166127081-480x266.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/CapeGriffons-Fitton-166127081.jpg 1900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" alt=\"Cape Griffons gather in Limpopo, South Africa, Photo by Angus Fitton\/Macaulay Library.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n                <figcaption>Cape Griffons gather in Limpopo, South Africa, <em>Photo by <a href=\"https:\/\/macaulaylibrary.org\/asset\/166127081\">Angus Fitton\/Macaulay Library<\/a>.<\/em><\/figcaption>\n              <\/figure>\n            <\/div>\n<h3>A Reason for Hope<\/h3>\n<p>For all the bad news, conservationists have taken heart from the fact that the decline in African vultures has been slower than the extraordinarily rapid collapse that occurred in Asia, which has given them time to mobilize and respond. But they recognize the task of saving the continent\u2019s great scavengers will not be easy. Some Africans view vultures with superstitious dread, and few understand their ecological importance, which is why vulture specialists are fighting back with education and training.<\/p>\n<p>Through the Endangered Wildlife Trust\u2019s poisoning intervention pro\u00adgram, which Botha started, he and his colleagues have trained more than 2,500 conservation rangers, law enforcement officers, and veterinarians in southern Africa to detect, prevent, and prose\u00adcute wildlife poisoning events. He has worked with Ogada to begin similar training in Kenya, where the Peregrine Fund has joined forces with a nonprofit group called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lionlandscapes.org\/\">Lion Landscapes<\/a> to provide a two-part education program for communities. Participants spend one day learning about the dangers of poisons and the importance of vultures, and the second day on how to build better, more secure livestock corrals, known locally as <em>bomas<\/em>, out of chain-link fence and sturdy gates. Improved bomas means fewer instances of wan\u00addering livestock lost to predators, and thus a reduced incentive for communi\u00adties to poison lions or hyenas\u2014and also vultures that feed on poisoned bait or secondarily poisoned predators. In the year and a half before the pandemic hit, the partnership had facilitated the building of 350 such corrals.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/BOmaBuilding-Odino..jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/BOmaBuilding-Odino.-720x480.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/BOmaBuilding-Odino.-1280x853.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/BOmaBuilding-Odino.-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/BOmaBuilding-Odino.-480x320.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/BOmaBuilding-Odino..jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"The Peregrine Fund and Lion Landscapes trained women from the Samburu community in Kenya to construct predator-proof bomas (livestock corrals), reducing the need to poison predators and, secondarily, vultures. Photo by Martin Odino.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption>The Peregrine Fund and Lion Landscapes trained women from the Samburu community in Kenya to construct predator-proof bomas (livestock corrals), reducing the need to poison predators and, secondarily, vultures. <em>Photo by Martin Odino.<\/em><\/figcaption>\n              <\/figure><\/div>\n<p>\u201cCommunities generally just want the boma training, but we won\u2019t do the boma training with a community without doing the poisoning [segment] with it, because we know that if a boma fails or they don\u2019t build it, the first thing they usually do is poison,\u201d Ogada says.<\/p>\n<p>There have been other significant signs of progress. In 2017, a multi-species action plan drafted under the auspices of the U.N. Convention on Migratory Species\u2014and covering all 16 species of African and Eurasian vultures\u2014was approved by 128 countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Botha is serving as the coordinator for the plan, which sets targets for reducing and eventually eliminating various kinds of poisoning, focusing first on protected areas and nearby buffers. The plan also focuses on international efforts to eliminate the veterinary use of NSAIDs and calls for the identification of areas where electrical infrastructure, including proposed wind farms, poses the greatest risk to vultures. In February 2020, the 131 nations that are party to the U.N. Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals came to an agreement for testing of all NSAIDs for vulture toxicity, the withdrawal from veterinary use of NSAIDs that are toxic, and vulture-safety testing for new drugs.<\/p>\n<p>Another approach that shows promise is the creation of vulture safe zones, or VSZs, a technique pioneered in Asia in which a buffer is created around a vulture population strong\u00adhold. Within VSZs, diclofenac use is aggressively combatted and drug-free carcasses are provided at artificial vulture feeding stations.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Boma-Coexistence-Co-op.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Boma-Coexistence-Co-op-720x540.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Boma-Coexistence-Co-op-1280x960.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Boma-Coexistence-Co-op-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Boma-Coexistence-Co-op-480x360.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Boma-Coexistence-Co-op.jpg 1392w\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"Before the pandemic hit, the Peregrine Fund and Lion Landscapes had facilitated the building of 350 bomas in Kenya. Local participants in the program also attended an educational program on the importance of vultures. Photo by Coexistence Co-op.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption>Before the pandemic hit, the Peregrine Fund and Lion Landscapes had facilitated the building of 350 bomas in Kenya. Local participants in the program also attended an educational program on the importance of vultures. <em>Photo by Coexistence Co-op.<\/em><\/figcaption>\n              <\/figure><\/div>\n<p>However, Botha says the situation in Africa calls for thinking on a bigger scale.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn Asia, they\u2019re looking at about a 150-kilometer radius around a breeding site or feeding location, but we know from tracking that [African vultures] are so incredibly mobile,\u201d Botha says. Many African vulture species roam over immense areas every day, and with more than 50 countries on the conti\u00adnent, a single vulture may cross three or four international boundaries on a single daily foraging trip. \u201cIn Africa, because of the far more complex suite of threats the birds face, you need to think in much wider terms than that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For that reason, African conserva\u00adtionists are turning to the creation of multinational VSZs, like one announced in September overlapping the borders of Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Botswana.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn this area we find the largest breeding colony of Cape Griffons on the planet, about 1,400 pairs of birds nesting at the single colony in the zone,\u201d Botha says. \u201cThere are also significant popula\u00adtions of tree-nesting vultures, like about 300 pairs of White-backed Vultures that nest in the riparian vegetation along the Limpopo River,\u201d which forms the border between the three countries.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group legacy-sidebar sidebar-alignright has-lightgray-background-color has-background\">\n<h4>About the Author<\/h4>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n              <figure class=\"size-small alignleft\">\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/WOrldOnAWing.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/WOrldOnAWing.jpg\" srcset=\"\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"Scott Weidensaul\u2019s A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n                <figcaption>Scott Weidensaul\u2019s latest book.<\/figcaption>\n              <\/figure>\n            <\/div>\n<p>Scott Weidensaul is an author and field researcher specializing in migration. He lives in New Hampshire.<\/p>\n<p>Twenty years after his Pulitzer-nominated book <a href=\"https:\/\/smile.amazon.com\/Living-Wind-Across-Hemisphere-Migratory\/dp\/0865475911\/\"><em>Living on the Wind<\/em><\/a>, he recently completed a follow-up that circles the globe: <a href=\"https:\/\/wwnorton.com\/books\/9780393608908\"><em>A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Across 10 chapters, Weidensaul\u2019s new book tells exhilarating stories of bird migration from the Yellow Sea of China to the dusty hills of southern Cyprus to the Americas. His anecdotes often dive into scientific explanations, such as how sandpipers fly nonstop from Canada to Venezuela and avoid dehydration by \u201cdrinking\u201d moisture from their own muscles. Some chapters are updated and expanded versions of stories previously published in <em>Living Bird<\/em>, such as Weidensaul\u2019s travels to encounter <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/losing-ground-whats-behind-the-worldwide-decline-of-shorebirds\/\">Spoon-billed Sandpipers<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/a-galaxy-of-falcons-witnessing-the-amur-falcons-massive-migration-flocks\/\">Amur Falcons<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Of the 11,500 square miles that the safe zone would encompass, 80% is private land, including several immense private game reserves. Botha says con\u00adservationists will work with the private landowners within the VSZ (which include corporations like the DeBeers diamond company), as well as national, provincial, and local governments to bolster existing legal protection for vul\u00adtures, and energy companies to reduce the chance of electrocution and power\u00adline collisions. Conservationists are also exploring antipoisoning interventions and the use of supplementary feeding stations to provide vultures with a safe supply of food. If successful, Botha says, it will serve as a model for similar trans\u00adnational zones elsewhere in Africa, like the Maasai Mara in East Africa, where vultures follow migrating game herds across boundaries.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are promising signs, but if you think of Africa as a whole, there\u2019s a lot that needs doing,\u201d Botha says. \u201cThe scale of the challenge is massive. We try to box clever and work in those key areas we have identified, build these strongholds so that we have populations that are maintained there.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen we start looking at expanding that work and maybe gain areas and habitat for the birds in the longer run,\u201d Botha says. \u201cBut that\u2019s some way down the road.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A dozen species of African vultures are in population freefall\u2014hunted for cultural uses or felled by poisons meant for lions. Conservationists and local people are scrambling to stem the damage. 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