There are currently more than 22 vulture species worldwide, 14 of which are on the verge of extinction. This is especially true in Sub-Saharan Africa, where four of the bird’s critically endangered species are found.
According to CNN, Vulpro, a South African non-profit organization, is working to save and restore these exquisite birds from extinction.
VulPro brought a group of 160 African and Cape White-backed vultures 1,049 kilometers to the Eastern Cape’s Shamwari Private Game Reserve last month.
More than fifty personnel from DHL Logistics and NPO We Wild Africa, both of which specialize in animal rewilding and translocation, participated in the operation.
As a result of its breeding efforts, the NPO has successfully relocated a huge number of birds.
The translocation aims to increase the number of wild vultures and create new colonies.
According to Kerri Wolters, the founder and CEO of VulPro, “I had the opportunity to hand-raise a vulture whom we still have today.”
“He was 10 days old and fit in my hands, which are rather little. It was at that moment that I realized how vulnerable and misunderstood the species were.”
A study on African savannah raptors published earlier this year discovered that large raptors, including vultures, “had experienced significantly steeper declines than smaller species,” with declines most severe in West Africa,”more than twice as severe outside of protected areas”.
The white-headed vulture is “now extinct as a breeding species” in sections of KwaZulu-Natal, along South Africa’s eastern coast, according to Wolter, primarily due to human activity.
