08 Jan 2019

Across Asia, Africa and Europe, vultures are in serious trouble.

These unsung heroes face mass poisonings, catastrophic and unprecedented population declines and negative perceptions, when in fact they are nature’s sanitary workers, worthy of celebration.

In an interview with BOPA, Bird Life Botswana campaigns coordinator, Ms Tsogo Bethel said Africa has 11 vulture species, five of which are common to Botswana.

She said all five vulture species from Botswana have been updated to either ‘endangered’ or ‘critically endangered’ status on the IUCN Red List.

These are the hooded vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus), white-backed vulture (Gyps africanus), white-headed vulture (Trigonoceps occipitalis), Cape vulture (G. coprotheres), and the Lappet-faced vulture (Torgos tracheliotos).

She said one vulture may lay an egg for two consecutive years and then stop due to a whole lot of factors for the next four years, which means when many vultures die at a go, like it happens more often in Botswana, there will be a decline in the vulture population.

“Research has shown that the vulture is an endangered species and may be extinct in the next half century unless governments make efforts to save it,” Ms Bethel said, adding that vultures are under threat from poachers and careless farmers.

She said three Cape vultures were found dead a few steps away from a goat carcass at Ramonaka in Kgatleng recently and the motive is not clear, although there are suspicions that a farmer might have laced the goat with poison to kill predators.

She said, “it was quite obvious that the poison used is very potent as the beetles, ants and flies died on the spot.”

Ms Bethel said species that are killed are only common in Botswana with two large colonies at Otse and Tswapong and some Southern African countries.

She said Bird Life Botswana receives a lot of vulture poisoning reports, most of which are caused by poachers.
She said that poachers deliberately aim to eliminate vultures in areas where they poach, since the birds tend to alert the concessionaires and wildlife rangers to their activities as they will gather where there is a carcass.

Ms Bethel said poisoning by poachers is much more serious than incidental poisoning as poachers purposely target the birds.

She said it is unfortunate that every time a poisoning incident is reported, more than two vultures are found dead at the scene, because ‘manong a ja ka losika’, meaning vultures are communal feeders.

Ms Bethel said Birdlife is embarking on an awareness campaign, titled: I want Botswana’s Vultures Alive, Not Dead to address the issue of vulture poisoning and it intends to lobby for legislation to restrict the availability and use of poisons such as Carbofuren.
“We want the police to not only be looking for arms at roadblocks, but to be also looking for these dangerous toxins that are not only a danger to birds, but are also a danger to humans and the environment in general.

Through this campaign, we call on Batswana to report all suspected poisoning incidents to Birdlife Botswana or the Department of Wildlife and National Parks,” she said.

She said it is illegal in Botswana to kill a vulture and the punishment for the offence is P10 000 or 10 years’ imprisonment.

Ms Bethel said the urgency to protect the vulture comes not just from concern at the loss of another species, but the devastation its absence is likely to cause to the ecosystem.

She said vultures effectively remove diseases that may be in carcass leftovers that are not palatable to predators as they tend to eat all the flesh and leave just bones, therefore the health consequences of the vulture’s demise could therefore be catastrophic.

“Already the number of carcasses is building up in areas where previously vultures would dispose of them within hours of death,” she concluded. Ends