Threats to Vultures & Vulture Conservation

[Richprins]

Close to 50 vultures poisoned near Kruger National Park
03 November 2017 - 15:31 By Tony Carnie


The poisoned bodies of nearly 50 vultures have been found by rangers in Mozambique‚ just a short distance from the boundary of the flagship Kruger National Park.

The discovery was made last week by a joint patrol of SA National Parks and Mozambique wildlife rangers in the Limpopo National Park‚ which directly abuts the Kruger Park.

The Peace Parks Foundation‚ which is helping to fund anti-poaching operations in the Limpopo sector of the trans-frontier conservation area‚ said the carcasses of 49 vultures and two jackals had been found in two nearby poaching camps. Rangers suspect that the poachers had laced a number of antelope carcasses with chemical poisons with the intention of poaching lions‚ whose body parts are in increasing demand for local and Eastern traditional medicine.

In the first incident‚ 37 dead vultures and two jackals were found next to poisoned carcasses of a waterbuck‚ wildebeest and impala.
A roaring trade: 6‚000 SA lion skeletons shipped to Asia
More than 6‚000 lion skeletons have been exported from South Africa to south-east Asia in the last decade.


“At a second site the poisoned carcass of a zebra was surrounded by the remains of 12 more vultures‚” a Peace Parks spokesman said in a statement this week. “Considering that most vulture species are even more threatened as a species than rhino‚ this is a great tragedy.

“Fortunately‚ the poachers had not been successful in killing any lions at either of these sites. Lions are also threatened‚ with current worldwide estimates indicating that there are only 20 000 wild lion remaining‚ as opposed to an estimated population of 29 000 rhino.”

According to the Endangered Wildlife Trust‚ vultures are under immense pressure from a range of human activities. These threats have resulted in a rapid decline in Africa and Asia particularly‚ where most of these birds are now listed as critically endangered

Vultures are particularly vulnerable to mass die-offs from poison baits laid out to kill other high-value wildlife species. Last year‚ nearly 150 vultures were killed in two poison incidents in northern Botswana. In Zambia‚ another 105 vultures were poisoned in South Luangwa National Park and another 56 vultures on the boundaries of Tanzania’s Ruaha National Park.



The Peace Parks Foundation‚ concerned about the negative impact of continued poaching in Limpopo National Park‚ said it had mobilised more than R7-million recently to help bolster anti-poaching efforts in the park. The French Development Agency would provide another R13-million to the project.

The foundation said the money would be used to establish an expanded Intensive Protection Zone (IPZ) in Limpopo National Park. “With more than one million hectares to patrol‚ implementing effective anti-poaching strategies throughout the Park remains a significant challenge.”

A new central command centre has been equipped with the latest technology systems‚ which also enables cross-border communications between the Limpopo and Kruger national parks.

[Flutterby]

[Mel]

Again vultures poisoned

[Lisbeth]

At least 94 vultures 'found poisoned and dead in Zimbabwe'

Harare - At least 94 critically-endangered vultures have been found poisoned in south-eastern Zimbabwe by poachers almost certainly trying to hide the killing of an elephant, conservationists say.

The dead African white-backed vultures were found on Friday around the carcass of an elephant that had been killed for its ivory near to Zimbabwe’s border post with neighbouring Mozambique. One vulture survived.

“It is an area that is quite busy with poaching activity and (game scouts) did a routine surveillance flight over the area and they came across the elephant carcass and the dead birds,” said Andre Botha, the co-chair of a vulture specialist group with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Separate sources have confirmed that the birds were found near the Chiqualaquala border post.

Vultures are sometimes killed by poachers to stop them from circling and alerting rangers to the scene of a kill.

“It looks as if the poisoning was done intentionally but more to eradicate the birds from the area rather than for belief use or muthi purposes,” Botha, who is based in South Africa, told News24. That was a reference to the fact that vulture body parts are often traded as charms.

The sole surviving vulture has been taken to a rehabilitation facility in Zimbabwe.

Botha said it’s possible that some of the dead birds were nesting as this is the vulture breeding season.

Leading South African-based vulture conservation group Vulpro said in a statement on Facebook that the deaths were "a devastating blow".

The IUCN has declared most of southern Africa’s vulture species to be either critically endangered or endangered due to human-induced threats.

Vultures play a vital role in the ecosystem, cleaning the veld of carcasses and the diseases that they harbour. Conservationists warn that without vultures, outbreaks of diseases like rabies and anthrax, which affect humans and their livestock, will likely become more common.

[Flutterby]

[Lisbeth]

© Bernard Dupont

Research in Botswana has revealed that fragments of lead from recreational hunter ammunition are finding their way into vulture bloodstreams, and represent a significant threat to these critically endangered scavengers.

Lead toxicity caused by the ingestion of lead ammunition fragments in carcasses and offal, which are a food source for vultures, is a threat to scavenging birds across the globe.

The research focused on the critically endangered white-backed vulture (Gyps africanus) in Botswana. Blood levels of 566 vultures were measured inside and outside of the hunting season, and inside and outside of private hunting areas. Note that the hunting ban in Botswana only covers communal and government land; hunting of some antelope and other species is still permitted on private, fenced land.


© Bernard Dupont

At least 30.2% of vultures tested showed elevated lead levels, with higher levels associated with samples taken inside of the hunting season and from within hunting areas. Additionally, lead levels declined more steeply between hunting and non-hunting seasons within hunting areas than outside of them.

The researchers concluded that elevated lead levels in this critically endangered African vulture are associated with recreational hunting. They recommend that toxic lead ammunition in Botswana is phased out as soon as possible, to help protect this rapidly declining group of birds.

Full report: Science of The Total Environment, Rebecca Garbett, Glyn Maude, Pete Hancock, David Kenny, Richard Reading, Arjun Amar: Association between hunting and elevated blood lead levels in the critically endangered African white-backed vulture Gyps africanus



Source: https://africageographic.com/blog/hunti ... 3cf4ca8e69

[Richprins]

Ag no really. What a load of activist crap!

[Lisbeth]

Joint effort leads to capture of the vulnerable bird of prey

BY GUY ROGERS - 28 December 2018


Arnold Slabbert of Wildline approaches the vulture - Image: Fredlin Adriaan

Conservation and community caring in action were the winners on Wednesday when a “Christmas voucher” with a difference was pouched in Port Elizabeth’s main street.

The juvenile Cape vulture appeared on the roof of the Urban Academy opposite the post office in Govan Mbeki Avenue, looking like a gargoyle from a Gothic fairytale and drawing nervous sorties from smaller birds and startled stares from passersby.

The large bird with its distinctive bald neck and powerful hooked beak, typically resident in far-off mountain eyries, was spotted by Robin Dunstan from his house in St Patrick’s Road above the academy.

“I didn’t know what it was but I was surprised to see a bird with such a large wingspan.

“Although it was so big it was obviously a youngster and it was being harassed by crows and hadedas.”

Dunstan’s wife Sylvia realised it was a vulture and that it was far from home and its usual habitat, and also remembered the name of wildlife rescue expert Arnold Slabbert of Wildline from a raptor programme on television.

They called him, and Slabbert realised it was the same bird that had popped up in a photograph on Facebook earlier in the week after being spotted in Sherwood.

He guessed that ladders and possibly other assistance were going to be needed so he called the fire department and they responded immediately, dispatching a truck to the scene.

Armed with a ladder and a large net, the team clambered up the embankment on the east side of the academy and squeezed through a fence.

While two firemen went back down again to monitor the street, Slabbert and the other two firemen scrambled over a gate ringed with razor wire, and pulled themselves onto the roof.

The vulture was perched on the edge of the roof gazing down into Govan Mbeki Avenue and the big concern was that if it was spooked it would glide down and be hit by a car, Slabbert said.

“I could see how thin it was and I knew it was near the point of no return when it would be too weak to save.

“What helped us was that it was so focused on the road below, looking for food.”

The roof was creaking so the firefighters froze where they were and Slabbert balanced on the narrow cement parapet and edged closer until, amazingly, he was able to bring the net down on the big bird.

Though weak, the indignant vulture objected to being trussed up and tried to strike out with its razor-sharp beak and talons, but despite some narrow misses the triumphant team was able to bring its captive down to safety.

Firefighter Peach Williams said he had never participated in a call-out of this nature, in his 20 years of service.

Hilton Jacobs said he had never seen a live vulture close up.

“I have only seen them on National Geographic on TV or flying up high far away, so this was an amazing experience.”

There are about 300 pairs of Cape vultures in the Eastern Cape in colonies in the old Transkei, a key segment of the 4,000-odd breeding pairs across Southern Africa.

The most serious threat to the Cape vulture is collisions with electricity pylons, but wind farm turbines, a shortage of carrion for them to scavenge and indirect poisoning via carcasses laced with poison for stock-killing jackals and caracal are also taking their toll.

Slabbert said the young bird, still an inexperienced flier, had obviously been blown off course causing it to lose its way and eventually land up in Port Elizabeth.

Slabbert said he would rehabilitate and ring the bird to help with any future studies, and then release it near one of the old Transkei colonies.

He praised the Dunstans for the tip-off and the firefighters for their support.

“They did not even question my rather strange call,” he said.

[Lisbeth]

Is CBD an abbreviation for somewhere in Port Elizabeth

[Flutterby]

It's an abbreviation for Central Business District.