Threats to Vultures & Vulture Conservation
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Richprins
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Re: Threats to Vultures & Vulture Conservation
The locusts will kill them all!
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Lisbeth
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Re: Threats to Vultures & Vulture Conservation
The locusts don't care about the consequences
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Nelson Mandela
The desire for equality must never exceed the demands of knowledge
The desire for equality must never exceed the demands of knowledge
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Lisbeth
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Re: Threats to Vultures & Vulture Conservation
Cheetah reintroduction in Malawi brings vultures back to the skies
by Ryan Truscott on 25 July 2022
Four species of critically endangered vulture have returned to a park in southern Malawi from which they disappeared more than 20 years ago, and their comeback is credited to the reintroduction of cheetahs, lions and the carcasses the cats left behind, conservationists say.
In 2017, seven cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) were reintroduced to Liwonde National Park under a project run by African Parks and the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), two conservation groups working in partnership with Malawi’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW).
Within days, and with the cheetahs still in their acclimatization pen or boma, the vultures showed up.
A Cheetah is released into a boma at Liwonde National Park as part of the translocation to restore predators to the park. Photo by African Parks / Frank Weitzer.
“We made a bit of a carcass pile not far from the boma,” recalls Olivia Sievert, head of biodiversity research at the Lilongwe Wildlife Trust, a conservation NGO that monitors carnivores in the park.
She and other members of her team set up a camera trap near the carcass pile. They expected to capture images of spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta), a species they were monitoring. But they were in for a surprise.
“We started getting vultures on camera traps,” says Sievert. “By the second week of the cheetahs being in the boma the vultures were in the trees around the boma, which was very exciting to see.”
Vulture restaurants
The cheetah reintroduction project has been successful. The population within the 548,000-hectare (1.3 million-acre) park reached 42 at the last count, according to a recent paper in Oryx authored by Sievert. A second generation of cheetahs are now breeding and raising cubs.
Lions were introduced months after the cheetahs, helping to boost the availability of food for the vultures.
Vultures – and cheetahs and lions – disappeared from Liwonde and a number of other protected areas in Malawi in the wake of a poaching crisis in the 1990s and early 2000s.
One effect of the vulture extirpation meant that animals that died from natural causes weren’t picked clean by the birds, whose ability to rapidly consume carcasses and the potentially fatal human and livestock diseases they harbor is legendary.
A team from the Endangered Wildlife Trust and the Lilongwe Wildlife Trust, including Olivia Sievert (right) attach wing tags and a satellite tracking device on a vulture in Nyika National Park, northern Malawi, Pic credit: Endangered Wildlife Trust.
Other birds of prey – bateleur and tawny and fish eagles, marabou storks and ospreys that would usually be pushed aside by the vultures – became more active as scavengers, Sievert says.
But they weren’t nearly as efficient.
“We had a lot more carcasses just rotting away, especially in the dry season when we start losing a lot of animals in the open floodplains,” she explains.
Older animals were simply keeling over from old age, something that wouldn’t happen if cheetahs and lions were around to pick them off earlier.
Surprisingly bushpigs (Potamochoerus porcus) were recorded doing most of the scavenging in Liwonde. The animals are better-known for eating grass and roots.
“We definitely saw an increase in some of the scavengers that you don’t normally see scavenging in parks that have proper full ecosystems,” Sievert says.
The return of the vultures was, therefore, hugely welcome. The first two species to arrive back in Liwonde in 2017 were critically endangered white-backed (Gyps africanus) and hooded vultures (Necrosyrtes monachus). They included one bird that had been tagged in the nest in the Imfolozi Game Reserve, in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal Province, around 2,500 kilometers (1,500 miles) to the south.
Vultures scavenge on cattle. Image courtesy of IUCN Bangladesh.
Three other species have now been recorded in Liwonde: critically endangered white-headed (Trigonoceps occipitalis), endangered lappet-faced (Torgos tracheliotus), and even a number of critically endangered Ruppell’s vultures (Gyps rueppelli), a species normally associated with East Africa and the Sahel.
To top it all, last year park managers found three white-backed vulture nests built in the crowns of tall borassus palms (Borassus aethiopum). These were the first active breeding records of vultures in Liwonde for more than two decades.
“It really is encouraging to see. It’s one of the good news stories that we are eager to share with people,” says Andre Botha, the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Vultures for Africa program manager.
Effective management of the park by African Parks via its public-private partnership with the DNPW, also played a key role in the vultures’ return, he says.
It has created a safe space for the cheetahs, the lions and the vultures to flourish.
Poisoned and on the decline
Good news about Africa’s vultures is normally hard to come by. Indiscriminate or deliberate poisoning, collisions with electricity cables, and habitat loss have driven down their numbers.
A 2015 study, still considered the standard text on this decline, found populations of seven species of African vulture had dropped by 80% or more over three generations.
Poison is very often “the tool of choice” to hunt and kill animals across Africa, explains Botha, who is also co-chair of the IUCN’s Vulture Specialist Group.
A dead vulture next to a dead elephant in southern Mozambique. The carcass had been laced with toxic farm poisons. Image courtesy Andre Botha
It is used with devastating effect against predators like lions or hyenas or jackals as revenge for attacks on farmers’ livestock, or for other purposes like poaching elephants for their ivory. Vultures are very often the intentional or unintentional victims.
Memories are still fresh of the deliberate poisoning of more than 2,000 hooded vultures in the West African nation of Guinea-Bissau in 2020, reportedly for belief-based use of the birds’ body parts.
Some vultures tracked by the EWT in Southern and East Africa, however, are fitted with mortality sensors. If a bird with a satellite tag dies, Botha and his team can alert people on the ground – through training provided by the EWT – to respond more quickly to possible poisoning incidents.
“The impact of the poisoning should be reduced,” he says.
One person who can testify to the devastating effect of poisoning in Liwonde in the past is Tiwonge Mzumara-Gawa, an ecologist at the Malawi University of Science and Technology, who is not involved with the cheetah reintroduction project.
Back in 2006, Mzumara-Gawa came upon dozens of Lilian’s lovebirds (Agapornis lilianae) – a near-threatened species of tiny green parrot – lying dead from poison laid by poachers beside a water hole in the park.
Some of the tracking units deployed on the backs of vultures have sensors that can detect if the bird dies, alerting officials to possible poisoning incidents, Pic credit: Endangered Wildlife Trust
Poisoning had already taken its toll on the park’s vultures and Mzumara-Gawa, a regular visitor to Liwonde, had grown used to never seeing them circling in its skies.
“I do think it’s very encouraging to have vultures come back to Liwonde,” she tells Mongabay. “It’s much better than the situation before where we just had animals rotting away because there were very few scavengers to take care of the animals that had died.”
Protecting protected areas
Deforestation is another threat to the lovebirds that Mzumara-Gawa now works to research and protect, and the vultures she and others are welcoming back.
The demand for charcoal has denuded much of Malawi’s landscape outside of protected areas. Controversially, Malawi’s largest illegal logging case took place in 2017 within one key national park, Lengwe, to the south-west of Liwonde. More than 2,000 hectares (4,900 acres) of the 88,700-hectare (219,000-acre) park were lost, according to the Lilongwe Wildlife Trust.
“With the recovery of the vultures we need to protect the large trees that they like to nest in, and ensure that they’re available for them to continue to nest,” says Mzumara-Gawa.
Lengwe and the Majete Wildlife Reserve, also in the south-west, are critical to Liwonde’s new vulture population. Data gathered from tagging white-backed vultures in Liwonde last year, and published recently, revealed that the birds were moving between all three protected areas to feed.
Niassa Special Reserve. Image courtesy of Colleen Begg.
Other vultures tagged in Liwonde have been found in protected areas beyond Malawi’s borders. Botha says one of the tagged birds has been recorded in the Niassa Special Reserve, in northern Mozambique; others as far south as Gorongosa National Park in central Mozambique.
For Malawi’s small breeding population of vultures, protected areas like Liwonde, Lengwe and Majete, where a second population of cheetahs has now been established, are safe havens. So are those in neighboring countries.
“All these areas are vitally important for vultures and for the prey that they feed on,” says Botha. “Healthy carnivore populations are an integral part of that.”
CITATIONS
Sievert, O., Fattebert, J., Marnewick, K., & Leslie, A. Assessing the success of the first cheetah reintroduction in Malawi. Oryx, 1-9.
Sievert, O., Reid, C., & Botha, A. (2020). First confirmed records of Rüppell’s Vultures (Gyps rueppelli) in Malawi. Vulture News, 78, 31-36.
Sievert, O., Adendorff, J., Kadewere, S., Reid, C., & Botha, A. (2022). Recent records of vulture nests in Malawi’s Southern Region. Vulture News, 81(1), 1-6.
Ogada, D., Shaw, P., Beyers, R. L., Buij, R., Murn, C., Thiollay, J. M., … & Sinclair, A. R. (2016). Another continental vulture crisis: Africa’s vultures collapsing toward extinction. Conservation Letters, 9(2), 89-97.
by Ryan Truscott on 25 July 2022
- Four species of critically endangered vulture have been recorded in Malawi’s Liwonde National Park after an absence of more than 20 years.
- Reintroduced cheetahs and lions are credited with the vultures’ return: their prey remains have increased food availability for the scavengers.
- Poisoning and deforestation remain a threat to vultures in Malawi and the region, but better park management and close monitoring provides hope for them and other wildlife.
Four species of critically endangered vulture have returned to a park in southern Malawi from which they disappeared more than 20 years ago, and their comeback is credited to the reintroduction of cheetahs, lions and the carcasses the cats left behind, conservationists say.
In 2017, seven cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) were reintroduced to Liwonde National Park under a project run by African Parks and the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), two conservation groups working in partnership with Malawi’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW).
Within days, and with the cheetahs still in their acclimatization pen or boma, the vultures showed up.
A Cheetah is released into a boma at Liwonde National Park as part of the translocation to restore predators to the park. Photo by African Parks / Frank Weitzer.
“We made a bit of a carcass pile not far from the boma,” recalls Olivia Sievert, head of biodiversity research at the Lilongwe Wildlife Trust, a conservation NGO that monitors carnivores in the park.
She and other members of her team set up a camera trap near the carcass pile. They expected to capture images of spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta), a species they were monitoring. But they were in for a surprise.
“We started getting vultures on camera traps,” says Sievert. “By the second week of the cheetahs being in the boma the vultures were in the trees around the boma, which was very exciting to see.”
Vulture restaurants
The cheetah reintroduction project has been successful. The population within the 548,000-hectare (1.3 million-acre) park reached 42 at the last count, according to a recent paper in Oryx authored by Sievert. A second generation of cheetahs are now breeding and raising cubs.
Lions were introduced months after the cheetahs, helping to boost the availability of food for the vultures.
Vultures – and cheetahs and lions – disappeared from Liwonde and a number of other protected areas in Malawi in the wake of a poaching crisis in the 1990s and early 2000s.
One effect of the vulture extirpation meant that animals that died from natural causes weren’t picked clean by the birds, whose ability to rapidly consume carcasses and the potentially fatal human and livestock diseases they harbor is legendary.
A team from the Endangered Wildlife Trust and the Lilongwe Wildlife Trust, including Olivia Sievert (right) attach wing tags and a satellite tracking device on a vulture in Nyika National Park, northern Malawi, Pic credit: Endangered Wildlife Trust.
Other birds of prey – bateleur and tawny and fish eagles, marabou storks and ospreys that would usually be pushed aside by the vultures – became more active as scavengers, Sievert says.
But they weren’t nearly as efficient.
“We had a lot more carcasses just rotting away, especially in the dry season when we start losing a lot of animals in the open floodplains,” she explains.
Older animals were simply keeling over from old age, something that wouldn’t happen if cheetahs and lions were around to pick them off earlier.
Surprisingly bushpigs (Potamochoerus porcus) were recorded doing most of the scavenging in Liwonde. The animals are better-known for eating grass and roots.
“We definitely saw an increase in some of the scavengers that you don’t normally see scavenging in parks that have proper full ecosystems,” Sievert says.
The return of the vultures was, therefore, hugely welcome. The first two species to arrive back in Liwonde in 2017 were critically endangered white-backed (Gyps africanus) and hooded vultures (Necrosyrtes monachus). They included one bird that had been tagged in the nest in the Imfolozi Game Reserve, in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal Province, around 2,500 kilometers (1,500 miles) to the south.
Vultures scavenge on cattle. Image courtesy of IUCN Bangladesh.
Three other species have now been recorded in Liwonde: critically endangered white-headed (Trigonoceps occipitalis), endangered lappet-faced (Torgos tracheliotus), and even a number of critically endangered Ruppell’s vultures (Gyps rueppelli), a species normally associated with East Africa and the Sahel.
To top it all, last year park managers found three white-backed vulture nests built in the crowns of tall borassus palms (Borassus aethiopum). These were the first active breeding records of vultures in Liwonde for more than two decades.
“It really is encouraging to see. It’s one of the good news stories that we are eager to share with people,” says Andre Botha, the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Vultures for Africa program manager.
Effective management of the park by African Parks via its public-private partnership with the DNPW, also played a key role in the vultures’ return, he says.
It has created a safe space for the cheetahs, the lions and the vultures to flourish.
Poisoned and on the decline
Good news about Africa’s vultures is normally hard to come by. Indiscriminate or deliberate poisoning, collisions with electricity cables, and habitat loss have driven down their numbers.
A 2015 study, still considered the standard text on this decline, found populations of seven species of African vulture had dropped by 80% or more over three generations.
Poison is very often “the tool of choice” to hunt and kill animals across Africa, explains Botha, who is also co-chair of the IUCN’s Vulture Specialist Group.
A dead vulture next to a dead elephant in southern Mozambique. The carcass had been laced with toxic farm poisons. Image courtesy Andre Botha
It is used with devastating effect against predators like lions or hyenas or jackals as revenge for attacks on farmers’ livestock, or for other purposes like poaching elephants for their ivory. Vultures are very often the intentional or unintentional victims.
Memories are still fresh of the deliberate poisoning of more than 2,000 hooded vultures in the West African nation of Guinea-Bissau in 2020, reportedly for belief-based use of the birds’ body parts.
Some vultures tracked by the EWT in Southern and East Africa, however, are fitted with mortality sensors. If a bird with a satellite tag dies, Botha and his team can alert people on the ground – through training provided by the EWT – to respond more quickly to possible poisoning incidents.
“The impact of the poisoning should be reduced,” he says.
One person who can testify to the devastating effect of poisoning in Liwonde in the past is Tiwonge Mzumara-Gawa, an ecologist at the Malawi University of Science and Technology, who is not involved with the cheetah reintroduction project.
Back in 2006, Mzumara-Gawa came upon dozens of Lilian’s lovebirds (Agapornis lilianae) – a near-threatened species of tiny green parrot – lying dead from poison laid by poachers beside a water hole in the park.
Some of the tracking units deployed on the backs of vultures have sensors that can detect if the bird dies, alerting officials to possible poisoning incidents, Pic credit: Endangered Wildlife Trust
Poisoning had already taken its toll on the park’s vultures and Mzumara-Gawa, a regular visitor to Liwonde, had grown used to never seeing them circling in its skies.
“I do think it’s very encouraging to have vultures come back to Liwonde,” she tells Mongabay. “It’s much better than the situation before where we just had animals rotting away because there were very few scavengers to take care of the animals that had died.”
Protecting protected areas
Deforestation is another threat to the lovebirds that Mzumara-Gawa now works to research and protect, and the vultures she and others are welcoming back.
The demand for charcoal has denuded much of Malawi’s landscape outside of protected areas. Controversially, Malawi’s largest illegal logging case took place in 2017 within one key national park, Lengwe, to the south-west of Liwonde. More than 2,000 hectares (4,900 acres) of the 88,700-hectare (219,000-acre) park were lost, according to the Lilongwe Wildlife Trust.
“With the recovery of the vultures we need to protect the large trees that they like to nest in, and ensure that they’re available for them to continue to nest,” says Mzumara-Gawa.
Lengwe and the Majete Wildlife Reserve, also in the south-west, are critical to Liwonde’s new vulture population. Data gathered from tagging white-backed vultures in Liwonde last year, and published recently, revealed that the birds were moving between all three protected areas to feed.
Niassa Special Reserve. Image courtesy of Colleen Begg.
Other vultures tagged in Liwonde have been found in protected areas beyond Malawi’s borders. Botha says one of the tagged birds has been recorded in the Niassa Special Reserve, in northern Mozambique; others as far south as Gorongosa National Park in central Mozambique.
For Malawi’s small breeding population of vultures, protected areas like Liwonde, Lengwe and Majete, where a second population of cheetahs has now been established, are safe havens. So are those in neighboring countries.
“All these areas are vitally important for vultures and for the prey that they feed on,” says Botha. “Healthy carnivore populations are an integral part of that.”
CITATIONS
Sievert, O., Fattebert, J., Marnewick, K., & Leslie, A. Assessing the success of the first cheetah reintroduction in Malawi. Oryx, 1-9.
Sievert, O., Reid, C., & Botha, A. (2020). First confirmed records of Rüppell’s Vultures (Gyps rueppelli) in Malawi. Vulture News, 78, 31-36.
Sievert, O., Adendorff, J., Kadewere, S., Reid, C., & Botha, A. (2022). Recent records of vulture nests in Malawi’s Southern Region. Vulture News, 81(1), 1-6.
Ogada, D., Shaw, P., Beyers, R. L., Buij, R., Murn, C., Thiollay, J. M., … & Sinclair, A. R. (2016). Another continental vulture crisis: Africa’s vultures collapsing toward extinction. Conservation Letters, 9(2), 89-97.
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Nelson Mandela
The desire for equality must never exceed the demands of knowledge
The desire for equality must never exceed the demands of knowledge
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RogerFraser
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SUSPECTED VULTURE POISONINGS IN THE KNP
https://www.facebook.com/groups/kruger. ... 060316456/
Ref: 9/2/2 – 22 - KNP
Thursday, August 11, 2022 Vulture 1 / of 1
MEDIA RELEASE
For immediate release
SUSPECTED VULTURE POISONINGS IN THE KNP
South African National Parks today, 11 August 2022 reported a horrific incident of suspected poisoning close to the fence in the Punda Maria Section of the Kruger National Park (KNP). Rangers on patrol discovered the carcass of a buffalo which appeared to have been laced with poison. They also found over a hundred dead vultures and a dead hyena likely to have fed off the carcass.
With the assistance of the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), twenty of the birds found next to the scene which were still alive were rushed to Shingwedzi and Mohololo Rehabilitation Centre for treatment. Yolan Friedman, CEO of the EWT expressed her concern that "given the critical status of vultures globally, poisonings at this scale places the species at increasing risk of extinction".
The scene has been cordoned off for further investigation and the carcasses have been burned to ensure that there are no further poisonings. Initial indications are that some of the carcasses were harvested for their body parts. South African National Parks (SANParks) confirms that the matter has been referred to the SAPS for investigation.
Acting Chief Executive Officer of SANParks, Hapiloe Sello stated that "this reprehensible act once again highlights the ever present danger of poisoning by unscrupulous people. We cannot afford to let our guards down and we call on law enforcement agencies outside the Park to move swiftly to arrest the perpetrators".
Further details of the incident will be shared in due course.
…”Ends”
Issued by
South African National Parks – Kruger National Park - Communications and Marketing Department.
Media enquiries:
Isaac Phaahla, Communications & Marketing, KNP. Tel: 013 735 4363, cell 083 673 6974 or email: isaac.phaahla@sanparks.org
Ref: 9/2/2 – 22 - KNP
Thursday, August 11, 2022 Vulture 1 / of 1
MEDIA RELEASE
For immediate release
SUSPECTED VULTURE POISONINGS IN THE KNP
South African National Parks today, 11 August 2022 reported a horrific incident of suspected poisoning close to the fence in the Punda Maria Section of the Kruger National Park (KNP). Rangers on patrol discovered the carcass of a buffalo which appeared to have been laced with poison. They also found over a hundred dead vultures and a dead hyena likely to have fed off the carcass.
With the assistance of the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), twenty of the birds found next to the scene which were still alive were rushed to Shingwedzi and Mohololo Rehabilitation Centre for treatment. Yolan Friedman, CEO of the EWT expressed her concern that "given the critical status of vultures globally, poisonings at this scale places the species at increasing risk of extinction".
The scene has been cordoned off for further investigation and the carcasses have been burned to ensure that there are no further poisonings. Initial indications are that some of the carcasses were harvested for their body parts. South African National Parks (SANParks) confirms that the matter has been referred to the SAPS for investigation.
Acting Chief Executive Officer of SANParks, Hapiloe Sello stated that "this reprehensible act once again highlights the ever present danger of poisoning by unscrupulous people. We cannot afford to let our guards down and we call on law enforcement agencies outside the Park to move swiftly to arrest the perpetrators".
Further details of the incident will be shared in due course.
…”Ends”
Issued by
South African National Parks – Kruger National Park - Communications and Marketing Department.
Media enquiries:
Isaac Phaahla, Communications & Marketing, KNP. Tel: 013 735 4363, cell 083 673 6974 or email: isaac.phaahla@sanparks.org
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Richprins
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Re: SUSPECTED VULTURE POISONINGS IN THE KNP
Savages!!!
Please check Needs Attention pre-booking: https://africawild-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=322&t=596
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Lisbeth
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Re: SUSPECTED VULTURE POISONINGS IN THE KNP
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Nelson Mandela
The desire for equality must never exceed the demands of knowledge
The desire for equality must never exceed the demands of knowledge
-
Lisbeth
- Site Admin
- Posts: 67570
- Joined: Sat May 19, 2012 12:31 pm
- Country: Switzerland
- Location: Lugano
- Contact:
Re: Threats to Vultures & Vulture Conservation
A conservation success story – the return of the majestic Cape Vulture
Lindy Thompson and Danielle du Toit, the EWT Birds of Prey Programme
Cape Vultures (Gyps coprotheres) are endemic to southern Africa. They are one of South Africa’s larger vulture species, weighing up to 11 kg. They forage in open vegetation types such as Fynbos, Kalahari, Karoo, grassland, and open woodland. Breeding pairs are monogamous and usually raise one chick.
The majestic Cape Vulture was listed as Endangered on the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species, but in 2021 it was ‘down listed’ to Vulnerable. This is a remarkable conservation success story and testament to the tireless efforts of multiple generations of conservationists in southern Africa. Removing the Cape Vulture from the list of Endangered species in 2021 received very little media attention, despite being an important case study that can provide hope and inspiration to current and future conservationists. This achievement resulted from a concerted effort by various organisations, including the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), BirdLife South Africa, and wildlife rehabilitation centres such as Moholoholo, VulPro, and others. A team of 31 contributors, which included the EWT’s Samantha Page-Nicholson) supplied information and justified why this species should (or should not) stay classed as ‘Endangered’. Threats to the species include unsafe wind energy developments, poisoning events, unsafe power lines, and food availability may play a large role in the successful breeding and population trends of this species. Current conservation actions for the Cape Vulture include systematic monitoring, education and awareness programmes, protection by national and international legislation, the expansion of formally protected areas (such as the Soutpansberg), and the creation and growth of Vulture Safe Zones.
The importance of Vulture Safe Zones in Cape Vulture conservation
In India in the 1990s, vulture populations suffered drastic declines. Scientists were baffled as to why until the study of carcasses revealed the presence of the veterinary non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, Diclofenac. They concluded that this drug was the root cause of the mass fatality and had cost about 90% of the vulture population in the area in the space of a decade. This became known as “The Indian Vulture Crisis.” The disappearance of Vultures led to the ecological tipping of scales. Mammalian scavengers such as jackals and feral dogs took advantage of the increased food supplies, and their populations increased. The high number of mammals on carcasses inadvertently led to an increase in the spread of pathogens. India faced, and still faces, a rabies epidemic that costs 30,000 human lives per year and billions of dollars in health fees.
The urgent need for action to stop the rapid decline of vulture species in Eurasia and Africa led to the development of the Multi-Species Action Plan to Conserve African-Eurasian Vultures (commonly referred to as the Vulture MsAP). It is a comprehensive and strategic plan which covers ranges across two continents. Vulture Safe Zones are an activity recognised in the Vulture MsAP to encourage the responsible management of the environment by actively reducing threats to vultures in identified areas. They are specified geographic areas where conservationists and landowners use targeted conservation measures adapted for the vulture species present. These measures include safeguarding electrical infrastructure to minimise collisions and electrocutions, reducing the use of poisons, covering or altering reservoirs to prevent vulture drownings, and using NSAIDs responsibly. The most important thing to remember is the responsible management of resources that vultures use, such as the availability of safe perches, water for drinking and bathing, and food. Vulture Safe Zones also promote responsible disposal of carcasses on which vultures scavenge to reduce poisoning through pesticides and lead fragments that remain in a carcass after an animal is shot.
The Karoo Vulture Safe Zone
Landowners in the karoo region of South Africa established the Karoo Vulture Safe Zone (KVSZ) to increase the area’s Cape Vulture populations that have been decimated by persecution resulting from misinformation and a general misunderstanding of their role in the ecosystem. Landowners in the mid-20th century believed that it was vultures killing their small livestock when they would find the birds feeding on them during the day. Unbeknownst to them at the time, the jackal population in the area was beginning to take advantage of the easy prey and kill them during the night. Now, the landowners in the area are admirably working to fix these past mistakes. In August 2020, the first landowner signed up to proclaim his property a Vulture Safe Zone. Since then, the KVSZ has grown to 730,000 hectares owned by 94 landowners committed to making their properties Vulture Safe. The project continues to encourage the responsible management of properties across the karoo landscape through landowner engagements and environmental education, which focus on sustainable and safe practices of managing predators and water resources and the safe disposal of carcasses. The KVSZ team also works through the strategic partnership between the EWT and Eskom to make problem powerlines safe for vultures.
Cape Vulture sightings within the project area are reported to the KVSZ team, and it is exciting to receive reports of up to 70 birds roosting on cliffs that were previously void of these magnificent birds. Monitoring efforts by the team to better understand the populations traversing the Eastern Cape skies have shown an increase in breeding pairs in known sites and the possible development of new breeding sites. All of these give the team more motivation to make the Karoo and the larger Eastern Cape a safe space for Cape Vultures.
The Vulture Safe Zone process is long, and it will take time until the area is completely vulture safe. In the interim, we continue to encourage vulture safe management and measures and spread awareness of the need for areas like this.
You can help raise important funds for Cape Vulture conservation by supporting the Rhino Peak Challenge ambassadors, who aim to complete a 21 km course to ascend the famous Rhino Peak in the Maloti Drakensberg World Heritage Site. The Rhino Peak Challenge raises awareness and funds, for Wildlife ACT, the EWT, and Ezimvelo KZN Wildlife (EKZN), for projects focused on vultures, rhinos and cranes. The EWT’s Cath Vise will participate in the Rhino Peak Challenge this year. Cath manages the Protected Area Programme in the Soutpansberg, where there is a colony of nesting Cape Vultures. Please consider supporting Cath and the other Rhino Peak Challenge ambassadors by clicking this link:
References:
Benson, P.C. and McClure, C.J. (2019). The decline and rise of the Kransberg Cape Vulture colony over 35 years has implications for composite population indices and survey frequency. Ibis 162: 863-872. https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.12782
BirdLife International (2021). Gyps coprotheres. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: e.T22695225A197073171. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021 ... 7073171.en accessed on 25 August 2022.
Howard, A., Hirschauer, M., Monadjem, A., Forbes, N. and Wolter, K. (2020). Injuries, mortality rates, and release rates of endangered vultures admitted to a rehabilitation centre in South Africa. Journal of Wildlife Rehabilitation 40: 15-23.
Mbali Mashele, N., Thompson, L.J. and Downs, C.T. (2022). Trends in the admission of raptors to the Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, Limpopo province, South Africa. African Zoology 57: 56-63. https://doi.org/10.1080/15627020.2021.2016073
Thompson, L.J. and Blackmore, A.C. (2020). A brief review of the legal protection of vultures in South Africa. Ostrich 91: 1-12. https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2019.1674938
Lindy Thompson and Danielle du Toit, the EWT Birds of Prey Programme
Cape Vultures (Gyps coprotheres) are endemic to southern Africa. They are one of South Africa’s larger vulture species, weighing up to 11 kg. They forage in open vegetation types such as Fynbos, Kalahari, Karoo, grassland, and open woodland. Breeding pairs are monogamous and usually raise one chick.
The majestic Cape Vulture was listed as Endangered on the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species, but in 2021 it was ‘down listed’ to Vulnerable. This is a remarkable conservation success story and testament to the tireless efforts of multiple generations of conservationists in southern Africa. Removing the Cape Vulture from the list of Endangered species in 2021 received very little media attention, despite being an important case study that can provide hope and inspiration to current and future conservationists. This achievement resulted from a concerted effort by various organisations, including the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), BirdLife South Africa, and wildlife rehabilitation centres such as Moholoholo, VulPro, and others. A team of 31 contributors, which included the EWT’s Samantha Page-Nicholson) supplied information and justified why this species should (or should not) stay classed as ‘Endangered’. Threats to the species include unsafe wind energy developments, poisoning events, unsafe power lines, and food availability may play a large role in the successful breeding and population trends of this species. Current conservation actions for the Cape Vulture include systematic monitoring, education and awareness programmes, protection by national and international legislation, the expansion of formally protected areas (such as the Soutpansberg), and the creation and growth of Vulture Safe Zones.
The importance of Vulture Safe Zones in Cape Vulture conservation
In India in the 1990s, vulture populations suffered drastic declines. Scientists were baffled as to why until the study of carcasses revealed the presence of the veterinary non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, Diclofenac. They concluded that this drug was the root cause of the mass fatality and had cost about 90% of the vulture population in the area in the space of a decade. This became known as “The Indian Vulture Crisis.” The disappearance of Vultures led to the ecological tipping of scales. Mammalian scavengers such as jackals and feral dogs took advantage of the increased food supplies, and their populations increased. The high number of mammals on carcasses inadvertently led to an increase in the spread of pathogens. India faced, and still faces, a rabies epidemic that costs 30,000 human lives per year and billions of dollars in health fees.
The urgent need for action to stop the rapid decline of vulture species in Eurasia and Africa led to the development of the Multi-Species Action Plan to Conserve African-Eurasian Vultures (commonly referred to as the Vulture MsAP). It is a comprehensive and strategic plan which covers ranges across two continents. Vulture Safe Zones are an activity recognised in the Vulture MsAP to encourage the responsible management of the environment by actively reducing threats to vultures in identified areas. They are specified geographic areas where conservationists and landowners use targeted conservation measures adapted for the vulture species present. These measures include safeguarding electrical infrastructure to minimise collisions and electrocutions, reducing the use of poisons, covering or altering reservoirs to prevent vulture drownings, and using NSAIDs responsibly. The most important thing to remember is the responsible management of resources that vultures use, such as the availability of safe perches, water for drinking and bathing, and food. Vulture Safe Zones also promote responsible disposal of carcasses on which vultures scavenge to reduce poisoning through pesticides and lead fragments that remain in a carcass after an animal is shot.
The Karoo Vulture Safe Zone
Landowners in the karoo region of South Africa established the Karoo Vulture Safe Zone (KVSZ) to increase the area’s Cape Vulture populations that have been decimated by persecution resulting from misinformation and a general misunderstanding of their role in the ecosystem. Landowners in the mid-20th century believed that it was vultures killing their small livestock when they would find the birds feeding on them during the day. Unbeknownst to them at the time, the jackal population in the area was beginning to take advantage of the easy prey and kill them during the night. Now, the landowners in the area are admirably working to fix these past mistakes. In August 2020, the first landowner signed up to proclaim his property a Vulture Safe Zone. Since then, the KVSZ has grown to 730,000 hectares owned by 94 landowners committed to making their properties Vulture Safe. The project continues to encourage the responsible management of properties across the karoo landscape through landowner engagements and environmental education, which focus on sustainable and safe practices of managing predators and water resources and the safe disposal of carcasses. The KVSZ team also works through the strategic partnership between the EWT and Eskom to make problem powerlines safe for vultures.
Cape Vulture sightings within the project area are reported to the KVSZ team, and it is exciting to receive reports of up to 70 birds roosting on cliffs that were previously void of these magnificent birds. Monitoring efforts by the team to better understand the populations traversing the Eastern Cape skies have shown an increase in breeding pairs in known sites and the possible development of new breeding sites. All of these give the team more motivation to make the Karoo and the larger Eastern Cape a safe space for Cape Vultures.
The Vulture Safe Zone process is long, and it will take time until the area is completely vulture safe. In the interim, we continue to encourage vulture safe management and measures and spread awareness of the need for areas like this.
You can help raise important funds for Cape Vulture conservation by supporting the Rhino Peak Challenge ambassadors, who aim to complete a 21 km course to ascend the famous Rhino Peak in the Maloti Drakensberg World Heritage Site. The Rhino Peak Challenge raises awareness and funds, for Wildlife ACT, the EWT, and Ezimvelo KZN Wildlife (EKZN), for projects focused on vultures, rhinos and cranes. The EWT’s Cath Vise will participate in the Rhino Peak Challenge this year. Cath manages the Protected Area Programme in the Soutpansberg, where there is a colony of nesting Cape Vultures. Please consider supporting Cath and the other Rhino Peak Challenge ambassadors by clicking this link:
References:
Benson, P.C. and McClure, C.J. (2019). The decline and rise of the Kransberg Cape Vulture colony over 35 years has implications for composite population indices and survey frequency. Ibis 162: 863-872. https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.12782
BirdLife International (2021). Gyps coprotheres. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: e.T22695225A197073171. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021 ... 7073171.en accessed on 25 August 2022.
Howard, A., Hirschauer, M., Monadjem, A., Forbes, N. and Wolter, K. (2020). Injuries, mortality rates, and release rates of endangered vultures admitted to a rehabilitation centre in South Africa. Journal of Wildlife Rehabilitation 40: 15-23.
Mbali Mashele, N., Thompson, L.J. and Downs, C.T. (2022). Trends in the admission of raptors to the Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, Limpopo province, South Africa. African Zoology 57: 56-63. https://doi.org/10.1080/15627020.2021.2016073
Thompson, L.J. and Blackmore, A.C. (2020). A brief review of the legal protection of vultures in South Africa. Ostrich 91: 1-12. https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2019.1674938
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Shock after 47 vultures and five eagles killed in KZN mass poisoning
https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/sout ... pw8OlyoL10
Suthentira Govender
SENIOR REPORTER
The site where 47 dead vultures were discovered on Sunday
Image: Anel Olivier/ Wildlife ACT
The carcasses of 47 white-backed vultures and five tawny eagles were discovered by wildlife conservation monitors in the Zululand region on Sunday, in what is suspected to be a mass poisoning.
Wildlife ACT, a team of conservationists working to protect endangered and threatened species from extinction, said on Thursday the discovery during routine surveillance by the monitors, “again highlights the precarious situation of vultures in both KwaZulu-Natal and South Africa”.
“A total of 47 white-backed vulture carcasses, 35 of which had their heads removed and an additional five , which had not yet succumbed to the poisoning, were recovered,” said Anel Olivier, Wildlife ACT’s vulture conservation programme manager.
“Five tawny eagle carcasses were also found at the scene. The five live individuals received initial treatment at the scene before being transported to a permitted rehabilitation facility for further treatment and a criminal case has been instituted with the South African Police Service.
“The swift response by conservation officials, who have been trained to handle such poisoning events, decontaminated the scene to ensure that no further fatalities occurred.”
Olivier said earlier this month, the forestry, fisheries and environment department had released a biodiversity management plan (BMP) for South African vultures for public comment.
“No sooner had the send button been hit, another vulture poisoning event took place in Zululand,” she said.
“Wildlife ACT was extremely saddened by the discovery of this recent mass vulture poisoning. Vultures are a vital component of our ecosystem’s functionality, yet we have seen a drastic decline of the local breeding population over the past few years due to poisoning, despite our best efforts. The time to act is now if we want to protect these species,” said Olivier.
Brent Coverdale, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife’s mammal and bird scientist, said a key threat facing vultures within South Africa, is poisoning for use in the traditional medicine trade — highlighted in the draft management plan.
“The current spate of such poisonings is unsustainable and will lead to the demise of vultures within South Africa and simultaneously, devastating environmental consequences, and the loss of cultural heritage.”
He said conservation agencies, and the management plan itself, acknowledge that traditional healers and the associations to which they belong “are a critical stakeholder in the conservation of vultures and thus require them to ensure that the poisoning of vultures is not only frowned upon but any member dealing in products sourced from such events are reported to the authorities.
“The loss of so many vultures from this area is extremely sad and it affects the health of our ecosystem and the livelihoods of our people. We are working hard to establish a conservation-based economy, and illegal activity such as this has a large impact,” said Inkosi Gumbi, leader of the local traditional authority.
TimesLIVE
https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/sout ... pw8OlyoL10
Suthentira Govender
SENIOR REPORTER
The site where 47 dead vultures were discovered on Sunday
Image: Anel Olivier/ Wildlife ACT
The carcasses of 47 white-backed vultures and five tawny eagles were discovered by wildlife conservation monitors in the Zululand region on Sunday, in what is suspected to be a mass poisoning.
Wildlife ACT, a team of conservationists working to protect endangered and threatened species from extinction, said on Thursday the discovery during routine surveillance by the monitors, “again highlights the precarious situation of vultures in both KwaZulu-Natal and South Africa”.
“A total of 47 white-backed vulture carcasses, 35 of which had their heads removed and an additional five , which had not yet succumbed to the poisoning, were recovered,” said Anel Olivier, Wildlife ACT’s vulture conservation programme manager.
“Five tawny eagle carcasses were also found at the scene. The five live individuals received initial treatment at the scene before being transported to a permitted rehabilitation facility for further treatment and a criminal case has been instituted with the South African Police Service.
“The swift response by conservation officials, who have been trained to handle such poisoning events, decontaminated the scene to ensure that no further fatalities occurred.”
Olivier said earlier this month, the forestry, fisheries and environment department had released a biodiversity management plan (BMP) for South African vultures for public comment.
“No sooner had the send button been hit, another vulture poisoning event took place in Zululand,” she said.
“Wildlife ACT was extremely saddened by the discovery of this recent mass vulture poisoning. Vultures are a vital component of our ecosystem’s functionality, yet we have seen a drastic decline of the local breeding population over the past few years due to poisoning, despite our best efforts. The time to act is now if we want to protect these species,” said Olivier.
Brent Coverdale, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife’s mammal and bird scientist, said a key threat facing vultures within South Africa, is poisoning for use in the traditional medicine trade — highlighted in the draft management plan.
“The current spate of such poisonings is unsustainable and will lead to the demise of vultures within South Africa and simultaneously, devastating environmental consequences, and the loss of cultural heritage.”
He said conservation agencies, and the management plan itself, acknowledge that traditional healers and the associations to which they belong “are a critical stakeholder in the conservation of vultures and thus require them to ensure that the poisoning of vultures is not only frowned upon but any member dealing in products sourced from such events are reported to the authorities.
“The loss of so many vultures from this area is extremely sad and it affects the health of our ecosystem and the livelihoods of our people. We are working hard to establish a conservation-based economy, and illegal activity such as this has a large impact,” said Inkosi Gumbi, leader of the local traditional authority.
TimesLIVE