A vulture road trip to save them from extinction (2024)

The job required more than 50 people, including bird-handlers wearing specialist safety gear to capture each vulture and load them into individual crates for their road trip. "It was phenomenal," says Kerri Wolter, chief executive of VulPro, who oversaw the ambitious translocation. "Coordinating and moving that number of birds without having one injury or compromised birds was incredible."

The 163 vultures weren't sedated for their move. "You don't drug vultures," Wolter explains. The hardy creatures also didn't require food or water during the journey. But the greatest cause of concern was heat, with the soft sides of the truck kept partially unclipped, the birds packed in single layers to allow for maximum ventilation, and the bulk of the journey completed at night for lower temperatures. "We've been experiencing extreme heat," Wolter explains. "We were really worried that if the truck stood still with 40C (104F) temperatures outside, the inside would become an oven. We were very concerned, especially for the young fledglings."

The non-profit VulPro provides veterinary treatment and rehabilitation for injured vulturesacross South Africa. The organisation currently holds the largest collection of Africanvulturesin the world, with more than 300 non-releasable birds.From black rhinos to Andean condors, wildlife translocations are seen as a vital conservation tool for turning back the clock, returning locally extinct species to their former habitat, restoring the natural balance of an ecosystem, and creating new breeding strongholds. But fatalities are always a possibility.

Despite the challenges, all the birds arrived in fine feather. "They've settled very well," Wolter says. "Some have already shown breeding activity. They're eating well and enjoying their new enclosures."

The birds, a mix of critically endangered white-backed vultures and vulnerable Cape vultures, travelled in two twin-trailer trucks from their former base near Hartbeespoort Dam, north of Johannesburg, in North West province. After the 17-hour trip, they are now settling into their new home at a bespoke facility at Shamwari Private Game Reserve in South Africa's Eastern Cape.

"The whole thing was incredibly emotional for me," says Wolter. "After a year of planning, realising your dream is coming true is almost surreal. We're not only securing the future of these individual vultures, but it's about what they can do for conservation and the future of vultures in this country."

A specialist bird-handler attempts to capture a vulture ready for its translocation (Credit: The Aspinall Foundation)

Every vulture counts in Africa and Asia, where the birds are currently facing an uncertain future. There are 23 vulture species in the world, more than half listed on the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species as either Vulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered. The under-appreciated scavengers serve a vital role as nature's "clean-up crew", devouring carcasses and stopping the spread of disease, such as tuberculosis and anthrax, to other wildlife, livestock, dogs, and people. Often associated with death or seen as ugly, vultures don't always receive the global attention of iconic endangered species, such as rhinos, elephants, lions and tigers. But they have experienced rapid, catastrophic declines of up to 99.9% in some Asian countries and similarly dangerous declines in African countries. In Asia and Africa, over half the resident vulture species are listed as Critically Endangered. The birds face diverse threats ranging from poisoning to power lines to toxic Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs), such as diclofenac, used by vets and farmers to treat cattle, which are fatal to vultures who feed on the carcasses.

But there are reasons for hope. A recent report from Saving Asia's Vultures from Extinction (SAVE) found that vulture populations across India, one of the worst hit countries, have stabilised after decades of drastic severe declines, due in large part to the government's banning of the veterinary use of diclofenac. Nepal has also been blazing a trail with the recent creation of the first ever approved Vulture Safe Zone (VSZ), where diclofenac and other toxic NSAIDs have been eradicated.

The translocation of 163 vultures to Shamwari is another positive step. Africa is home to 11 species of vulture, all but two of them listed on the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species as either Vulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered. "Diclofenac is the biggest cause of death for Asian vultures but in Africa the biggest issue is poisoning," Wolter explains. "Firstly, there's poisoning for belief-based purposes. Local people in African countries want to use their heads, brains, eyes, claws. They believe vultures, because of their incredible eyesight, will give them the power to see what's going to happen in the future, that they'll dream up the Lotto numbers, or pass exams, or select the right horse in horse-racing."

Wolter continues: "Then, there's human-wildlife conflict, where people lace a carcass with poison to get rid of perceived problem animals, like lions, who they see as a threat to livestock – but vultures end up finding that carcass and it kills them. There's also 'sentinel poisoning', where poachers directly target vultures because vultures indicate a dead animal and they want to come and go from protected areas without being noticed." Toxic NSAIDs, such as Ketaprofen and Flunixin, are also used across Africa, she says.

Vultures being carried to the truck ready for translocation (Credit: The Aspinall Foundation)

In South Africa, the situation is different again. "There are more power line incidents than poisoning incidents in South Africa," says Wolter. "With poisoning, one incident can be catastrophic. With power lines, there are fewer fatalities in one go, but it's recurring and daily."(Read more about how electricity infrastructure can be made more bird-friendly).

The recent translocation, supported by delivery company DHL and wildlife charity The Aspinall Foundation, was deemed necessary for the long-term survival of vultures across South Africa. But there was added urgency, says Wolter, to the move due to the fact that local people from communities around VulPro's Hartbeespoort facility were knocking on their doors asking if they would sell thevultures for belief-based purposes. They've also had threats after taking rescued birds away from people to prevent them being killed and used for Muti, a traditional spiritual medicine practice.Shamwari was chosen as it's a safe site with, says Wolter, an "incredible anti-poaching unit (APU) already in place to protect their rhinos, working 24/7".

The move of 163 birds is the first phase of a two-year project, with plans to transport three other vulture species, lappet-faced, white-headed, and hooded, and possibly Egyptian vultures too. VulPro has also received requests to help set up vulture captive-breeding facilities in other African countries – including Nigeria, Tanzania and Guinea – that are facing their own vulture crises.

Globally, Europe is the only continent currently where vulture populations are recovering and increasing, due to investment and the mitigation of threats. Elsewhere, threats such as poisoning remain high. In India, for instance, vulture populations are stabilising, but there is still no sign of a recovery in the country. Diclofenac was previously only used for treating people, but it was repurposed for veterinary use in the early 1990s and widely used to treat cattle, with devastating impacts across Asia. India banned the veterinary use of diclofenac in 2006, followed by Nepal and Pakistan. But populations in India remain at critically low levels.

Vultures packed and ready to go on their epic 1050-km (650-mile) road trip (Credit: The Aspinall Foundation)

"The diclofenac government bans, including India's vial size restrictions on human formulations, have gone a long way towards preventing the total extinction of these amazing birds," says Chris Bowden, programme manager for SAVE. "Although there is still some illegal veterinary use, this stabilising shows efforts are having an effect, even though toxic veterinary drugs remain a major problem," he says.

Other countries, including Pakistan and Bangladesh, have taken positive steps with bans of other toxic NSAIDs. Iran, Cambodia and Oman also outlawed veterinary diclofenac. But it's Nepal that has really got to grips with diclofenac and other toxic NSAIDs, reversing decades of extinction-trajectory declines. In Nepal, there it was estimated there were up to 1.6 million vultures prior to diclofenac's arrival, which plummeted to less than 20,000 by 2007's low point, with a population of less than 2,000 white-rumped vultures.

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In 2021, the first ever Vulture Safe Zone (VSZ) was announced, with the creation of the Gandaki-Lumbini VSZ in Nepal. VSZ. The vast area encompasses 7,500 sq km (2,900 sq miles) in south-west Nepal, the buffer zone taking in Chitwan National Park. "Nepal is leading the way in vulture conservation," says Ankit Joshi, vulture conservation programme manager for Bird Conservation Nepal. "The Gandaki-Lumbini VSZ was scientifically approved based on extensive pharmacy surveys, during which no diclofenac was found in the market," he says. "The high survival rates of wild birds, especially adults, and the lack of evidence for NSAID-caused mortality suggest that the vulture habitat in the Nepal VSZ is virtually free from diclofenac and other hazards. Vulture Safe Zones (VSZs) are crucial for protecting vultures due to their role in preventing the spread of diseases and maintaining ecosystem balance," says Joshi.

Two twin-trailer trucks carried the vultures for 17 hours (Credit: The Aspinall Foundation)

Carbon Count

Finally able to stretch their wings, the vultures are released into their new home (Credit: The Aspinall Foundation)

VulPro's translocatedvultureswill remain in captivity for the rest of their lives but their offspring will be released into the wild, where it's expected they'll breed, strengthening and expanding populations across the Eastern Cape and South Africa, and beyond. "By putting back what was lost, we're preventing extinctions," says Wolter.

The key, she says, to changing vultures' fortunes is getting people to care about these often unloved birds. "I’d like to see more empathy from the public towards vultures, because nobody's going to care about them if there's no emotional connection," says Wolter. "I want to change the perception, so people don't see them as vermin and instead see them as the beautiful, magnificent birds they really are."

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