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International Vulture Awareness Day

Tomorrow, the 5th September, is International Vulture Awareness Day (IVAD). It is recognised worldwide on the first Saturday of September to celebrate these amazing birds and to raise awareness about the vital role that they play in our environment.

Vultures are nature’s garbage collectors. They are perfectly adapted to keep our environment clean. Their exceptionally acidic digestive system allows them to safely digest organic waste and decomposing carcasses infected with bacteria, therefore dissolving and removing bacteria from our environment. If population numbers continue to decline, or our vultures become extinct, then it leaves us with contaminated environments and an unbalanced ecosystem.

Today vultures face a threat in many regions in Africa. Some species are under severely under pressure and face extinction, mainly due to human activities. The IUCN Red List status of African-Eurasian vultures now lists many species as Critically Endangered. This is the highest category of threat and indicates a very high risk of extinction in the wild if conservation management actions cannot be implemented.

Recent satellite telemetry studies have shown that vultures travel across huge areas. Therefore conservation actions can only be effective if implemented across borders, requiring a broad approach and the engagement of all countries in a species range. This has led to an international agreement to develop an action plan to conserve African-Eurasian vultures under the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS).

This Multi-species Action Plan to conserve African-Eurasian vultures (Vulture MsAP) provides comprehensive conservation strategies covering the geographic ranges of 15 migratory Old World vultures. It aims to reverse the decline in population trends, bringing back population numbers to acceptable levels by 2029.

Vulture Species Under Threat

Critically Endangered:

Hooded Vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus) – Africa
White-backed Vulture (Gyps africanus) – Africa & Europe
White-headed Vulture (Trigonoceps occipitalis) – Africa
Rüppell’s Vulture (Gyps rueppelli) – Africa & Europe
Indian Vulture (Gyps indicus) – Asia
Red-headed Vulture (Sarcogyps calvus) – Asia
Slender-billed Vulture (Gyps tenuirostris) – Asia
White-rumped Vulture (Gyps bengalensis) – Asia

Endangered:

Cape Vulture (Gyps coprotheres) – Africa
Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) – Europe, Asia & Africa
Lappet-faced Vulture (Torgos tracheliotos) – Africa & Asia

Near Threatened:

Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) – Europe, Asia & Africa
Cinereous Vulture (Aegypius monachus) Europe, Asia & Africa
Himalayan Griffon (Gyps himalayensis) – Asia

To find out more about Vulture MsAP visit www.vultureday.org

And to find out more about how you can help conserve our vultures, and all our other spectacular bird species, then check out Birdwatch Zambia’s Facebook Page