African vultures also in Danger
Kenya Vultures declining!
Most birders have heard of the critical state of the vultures of the Indean Subcontinent because the use of Dichlophenac to treat sick livestock, and in the dead animals is highly. The discovery of the cause of the decline of the Indean Vultures was quite a sensation (see link) and it was feared that similar problems could also be found in Africa soon. Well, now it seems that the same or similar problems have reached Africa, with a drastic decline in Kenyan Vulture populations as reported in this birdlife report. The numbers of African White-backed Gyps africanus, Ruppell’s Gyps reuppellii and Hooded Necrosyrtes monachus Vultures in the Masai Mara National Reserve area in Kenya have dropped up to 60 percent over three decades.
“Staggering declines in abundance were found for seven of eight scavenging raptors surveyed,” said co-author Munir Virani. “Better land management and a ban on certain pesticides are needed to preserve these keystone members of the scavenging community.”
“The situation in Kenya perhaps mirrors the situation throughout eastern Africa,” Virani said. “This is the first time that large-scale population declines in vultures and other scavenging raptors in and around the Masai Mara have been documented.”
Read the full Birdlife Kenya Vulture article here.
Can’t help to think of the Jungle Book any time I see a picture of a Gyps. Flaps, what we gonna do?