Illegal Widelife Trade: Experts warns of danger of Vultures going to extinction

Conservation experts have warned of the increasing threat of extinction faced by vultures, saying their absence would inflict Nigeria, Africa and humanity with diseases and deaths.

The experts made the call in Lagos at an event organised by the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) and BirdLife International where five celebrity ambassadors for the ‘Save Vulture’ campaign were endorsed.

The workshop focused on how to reduce the impact of the illegal trade on the populations of Critically Endangered Hooded, White-backed, Ruppell’s, White-headed, Lappetfaced and Egyptian Vulture species.

Director-General of NCF, Dr Muktari Aminu-Kano, observed that vultures were being “actively harvested” in Nigeria and across Africa for various mystical reasons and that efforts were on by NCF to tackle the menace.

Aminu-Kano said the foundation was carrying out awareness campaign among traditional doctors on herbal alternatives to vultures as well as seeking collaboration of security agencies on enforcement of relevant laws and regulations.

He said, “Vultures are very important, they are our unpaid sanitary inspectors, some people call them garbage collectors but they are beyond just collectors, they are like PSP, treatment plant and landfill all rolled into one because they actually clean up the environment and prevent us from having nasty diseases.

“They prevent the proliferation of pests because they eat up carcasses. If vultures go extinct then we must use very effective and efficient garbage disposal system.

“And by doing that, it means that there will be diseases, there will be deaths, there will be revenue loss to the country and also we will deprive future generations of knowing that vultures ever existed.”