How you can help protect endangered vultures

Wildlife ACT, a number one African conservation organisation, is asking consideration to and actively mitigating the regarding decline of South African vulture populations via their South African Southern Drakensberg Conservation Undertaking. The mission, which falls below the organisation’s Vulture Conservation Programme, calls on volunteers worldwide to help in each day on-the-ground conservation efforts within the Southern Drakensberg area in KwaZulu-Natal. 

Image: Casey Pratt / Love Africa Advertising and marketing

Regardless of being essential to our ecosystems, vulture numbers are in critical decline, with solely 50 to 100 breeding pairs of bearded vultures in South Africa and Lesotho and about 4 500 breeding pairs of Cape vultures left in South Africa. By the help of a volountourism mannequin, this Undertaking goals to additional regional conservation efforts for endangered and precedence wildlife species, with a major concentrate on the susceptible Cape vulture and the regionally critically endangered bearded vulture.  

Made potential via a collaboration between Wildlife ACT, the Drakensberg Conservation Initiative and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, this mission types a part of Wildlife ACT’s ongoing efforts to observe and defend endangered and precedence species and to help within the efficient administration of protected areas. The mission includes the monitoring of nesting websites, managing and sustaining secure vulture feeding websites, conducting a long-term distant digicam trapping survey within the space, and responding to emergency occasions.  

‘We’re excited concerning the Southern Drakensberg Conservation Undertaking and stay up for focusing some vital power on the regionally critically endangered bearded vulture,’ says Chris Kelly, co-founder of Wildlife ACT. ‘Vultures play a essential position in sustaining wholesome ecosystems, and their decline is a critical concern. We hope to make a optimistic impression on the conservation of those magnificent birds inside the Southern Drakensberg area.’ 

A stronghold for vultures 

The Southern Drakensberg Conservation Undertaking takes place each in and across the Maloti-Drakensberg Park World Heritage Website in South Africa, a vital stronghold for a number of threatened and endangered species. The Heritage Website is an enormous protected space spanning over 240 000 hectares and stretching alongside the border of South Africa and Lesotho. This protected space is residence to an unbelievable range of vegetation and animals, together with over 2 000 species of vegetation and quite a lot of uncommon and endangered animal species.  

Why it’s essential

Image: Casey Pratt / Love Africa Advertising and marketing

The Southern Drakensberg Conservation Undertaking is closely centered on vulture conservation, serving to to preserve South Africa’s two cliff-nesting species of vulture discovered within the space, particularly the bearded vulture and the Cape vulture. 

Resulting from their regionally critically endangered Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature Pink Listing standing; the bearded vulture is of specific concern for this mission. The bearded vulture has skilled a drastic decline throughout the previous century, leading to an remoted native inhabitants restricted to the Maloti-Drakensberg mountain vary.  

Vultures face quite a few threats, together with poisoning, electrocutions and collisions with power infrastructure, habitat loss and meals shortages. Not solely are these birds a significant a part of our ecosystem; however they’re additionally geared up with a digestive system that comprises particular acids capable of deal with quite a few illnesses which can be critically dangerous to human beings, making their safety critically essential for stopping the unfold of illness. 

‘Vultures present very important ecosystem companies in our pure, agricultural, and rural environments,’ explains Wildlife ACT’s Vulture Conservation Programme Supervisor, Anel Olivier. ‘The essential position they play within the biking of vitamins via the highly-efficient disposal of natural waste from the setting is of utmost significance to human well being and environmental integrity. They’re tailored to effectively eliminate rotting flesh and bone, in addition to different natural waste, thereby lowering the unfold of illness amongst wildlife and livestock, in addition to abating the danger of pathogen spill-over to people.’  

Volunteers worldwide are invited to take part in and help this mission via Wildlife ACT’s voluntourism mannequin.  

A voluntourism initiative 

Image: Casey Pratt / Love Africa Advertising and marketing

To maintain the work being completed at its varied initiatives, Wildlife ACT gives a voluntourism mannequin that permits volunteers from around the globe to actively take part in conservation efforts whereas working alongside educated professionals. The work completed and funds acquired allow conservation efforts to proceed sustainably.  

The mission gives volunteers with a novel alternative to realize on-the-ground expertise in conservation work with vultures. Volunteers will work alongside Wildlife ACT’s skilled conservation crew to observe people and nests, conduct analysis, handle vulture-safe feeding websites, conduct digicam lure surveys and far more.  

Throughout their time on the mission, volunteers reside in a farmhouse located within the buffer zone surrounding the Maloti-Drakensberg Park World Heritage Website, surrounded by breathtaking surroundings.  

‘If you happen to’re captivated with conservation and love nature, recent mountain air, mountaineering and birdlife then you definately’ll really feel proper at residence on the mission,’ says Phillip Swart, Precedence Species Monitor, Southern Drakensberg. ‘We wish to maintain lively out within the discipline, whereas nonetheless taking time to admire the wonder and wildlife round us. We’re making a optimistic distinction for vulture conservation on a worldwide scale however want the help of volunteers to proceed to take action.’  

Pleasure forward 

As South Africa heads into the colder months of their yr, the bearded vultures of the Maloti-Drakensberg area put together to nest. In consequence, winter tends to be a busy time of the yr for vulture conservation and people becoming a member of the Southern Drakensberg Conservation Undertaking as volunteers can count on plenty of exercise.   

Wildlife ACT is hopeful that the breeding season will show profitable and that volunteers will be a part of to assist help and maintain this essential conservation mission.  

For extra info, go to Wildlife ACT.  

Observe us on social media for extra journey information, inspiration, and guides. You can too tag us to be featured. 

TikTok | Instagram | Fb | Twitter

ALSO READ: South Africa’s first beak transplant carried out on injured vulture