Vultures
The “Vulture Chemical Threats Project” is implemented by the University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Veterinary Science and the Rhino & Lion Wildlife Conservation’s Vulture Programme.
This project is aimed at evaluating the risks to vultures, from the use of veterinary and stock remedies in treating domestic livestock, to lead from bullets that become available through the scavenging of carcasses in the field. It is funded by WWF and AFGRI Operations Limited.
This project is a pro-active attempt to determine, evaluate and monitor veterinary drugs, chemical residues and lead in carcasses that are made available to vultures, build dedicated laboratory models for predicting avian toxicity, create a mass awareness campaign in order to involve and get feed-back from birders and the public on vulture re-sightings to determine foraging ranges and bank down appropriate biological samples for current and future project use.
This project is a pro-active attempt to determine, evaluate and monitor veterinary drugs, chemical residues and lead in carcasses that are made available to vultures, build dedicated laboratory models for predicting avian toxicity, create a mass awareness campaign in order to involve and get feed-back from birders and the public on vulture re-sightings to determine foraging ranges and bank down appropriate biological samples for current and future project use.
Juvnile Cape Vulture