Wednesday 4 September 2013

128 | VULTURES IN SERIOUS TROUBLE

128


VULTURES IN SERIOUS TROUBLE

Long-term solutions needed for vulture conservation

Photos and text by Stefan Rust
2013

(In terms of the Geneva Convention the copyright of these texts belong to Stefan Rust)


With hundreds of vultures being poisoned at one carcass one can’t but wonder, how long will one still see these scavengers soaring? Facts, figures and vulture conservation strategies were explained to the public by a talk of Peter Bridgeford and David Joubert, held on the 29th of August in Windhoek.

Hundreds of poisoned vultures in one incident

As Mr. Joubert, a lecturer and researcher at the Polytechnic of Namibia, stated, the loss of six Lappet-faced Vultures equals the loss of sixty elephants or rhinos. The reproduction rate of vultures is just as slow as that of for example elephant and rhino and the ecological importance of the vultures is just as valuable or even more. But why doesn’t the kill of hundreds of vultures within one incident in the Caprivi strip in Namibia through poisoning, touch the broad public as does the killing of rhinos? Is it a matter of size, because the rhino or elephant is easier to observe than a vulture that flies high up in the sky? Most probably!
Isn’t it time to pay attention to small animals on this planet as well, not only to the big animals everybody can see? That is the reason why bird conservation and tourism (BirdsConTour) rewarded Mr. Peter Bridgeford from “Vultures in Namibia” with a five penguin-rated and Mr. David Joubert with a four penguin-rated Bird & Birder Friendly Award for their efforts in vulture conservation.

        
David Joubert and Peter Bridgeford giving talks about vultures and vulture conservation

No comments:

Post a Comment