The
mass poisoning reported 20 June of 537 African vultures on three elephant
carcases in Botswana highlights the need for immediate and effective
conservation action to avert the complete loss of vultures and their scavenging
service from this magnificent continent. The human and environmental health
cost of losing Asian vultures has been astronomical with increases in disease.
"The biggest tool that we all have to deal with this difficult problem is public awareness, to reach as many hearts and minds as we can".
We need to do everything we can to stop this from
happening in Africa, but it is said there are ‘miles and miles of bloody
Africa’ – where in this vastness, patrolled and surveyed by these highly mobile
birds, do we focus our efforts?
This daunting question is addressed by a
mapping project coordinated by Ralph Buij, Corinne Kendall and Ara Monadjem,
funded largely by the Dutch Government and supported by many others, for which habitat
INFO was very happy to assist with. All the researchers currently working on
vultures in Africa generously shared all their amazing tracking data on where
these birds are moving with us, and we drew on thousands of sightings of the
birds from the African Raptor Databank to produce a series of maps to measure
and show exactly how much habitat space these birds have left and where this
overlaps to reveal habitat strongholds for multiple vulture species where
conservationists can make most effective use of their efforts.
Please grab a poster to help vultures
Free poster to download to help conservationists
Blog article by Rob Davies.
1 comment:
Africa is paradise for wildlife enthusiasts. Insightful post. Cool Images
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