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INTERNATIONAL VULTURE AWARENESS DAY
2010-09-04
International Vulture Awareness Day
4 September 2010
All around the world, vultures are under immense pressure. Most vulture species have populations which are declining, and ranges which are contracting. Apart from habitat loss and declining food, threats faced by these ecologically-important birds include direct or secondary poisoning, electrocution on electricity pylons and drowning in farm reservoirs. Vultures are also in demand for the muti trade.
Nine species of vultures are found in South Africa. The Egyptian Vulture is listed as Regionally Extinct and four other species (Cape Vulture, Hooded Vulture, Lappet-faced Vulture and White-headed Vulture) listed as Vulnerable in The Eskom Red Data Book of Birds of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland (Barnes 2000). The Cape Vulture is almost exclusively found in South Africa, and it has received much conservation attention for many years. International Vulture Awareness Day has its roots in the awareness campaigns run by the Birds of Prey Working Programme in South Africa and the Hawk Conservancy Trust in England.
For more information on how to become involved, visit info@internationalvulture- awareness-day.org.
Hanneline Smit, Oppenheimer Fellow of Conservation, conservation@birdlife.org.za
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