Moves to restore vultures to their Karoo haunts in full flight
Hundreds of landowners and farmers are joining forces to offer safe haven to the threatened species
Soaring Cape vultures seen high in the Karoo sky are getting conservation-minded hearts beating as efforts to clear the way for the return of nature’s majestic animal waste recycler to the Central Karoo gather serious momentum.
This week, the Dispatch was told that four hundred landowners from the Eastern and Western Cape were working together to render their land safe for the homecoming of the Karoo’s Cape vultures.
Scores of owners of farms, private reserves, small holdings and three national parks spanning the Eastern and Western Cape have come forward to work with the Karoo Vulture Safe Zone (KVSZ) project.
The new project builds on other vulture safe zones in SA which are similar to safe zone projects in India.
Vulture conservationist and game ranch management graduate Danielle du Toit, who is doing the project groundwork for the nonprofit organisation the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), said: “Karoo landowners, especially farmers in the Camdeboo Conservancy, have had the vision of bringing back the Cape vulture (Gyps coprotheres) to their historical colonies and roosts in the Karoo.”
She said: “The establishment of vulture safe zones is a concept recommended in the Convention for Migratory Species (CMS) Multispecies Action Plan (MsAP) for African-Eurasian Vultures, which was developed from extensive consultation with stakeholders, implementing partners, conservation, and species expert.
She said: “Numbers of Cape vultures have declined by about 90% since the 1970s. Currently, it is estimated that there are 8,800 mature individuals left.”
In a presentation last week, that coincided with International Vulture Awareness Day, Du Doit said the lockdown had halted the first phase of surveying the farms and reserves to understand possible threats to Cape vultures.
These included poisoning, whereby vultures fall victim to poisons left out for mammal species like jackals and caracals, and accidental poisoning where vultures consume lead fragments present in carcasses of animals that have been shot using ammunition containing lead, and drownings in farm reservoirs.
She said the project covered 23,000km² from Beaufort West and the Karoo National Park to Cradock, down to just north of Addo Elephant National Park.
“Farmers and landowners have been driving conservationists to create the safe zone. They are passionate about seeing vultures soaring and breeding in the Karoo again.”
Maryke Stern, the environmental ecologist with the Mountain Zebra Camdeboo Protected Environment Project, which has partnered with SANparks, said when farmers were asked to generate project ideas a few years ago, they came up with the initiative to help bring back vultures to the Karoo.
Stern said: “As part of my job to link landowners with environmental projects, we approached the EWT and other bird of prey groups. We also linked up with SANparks honorary rangers who had also been thinking of how to bring back vultures to the western part of the project area and the Rupert Nature Foundation.
Stern said: “We all came together at the Karoo National Park in 2018 and had a few great planning sessions. Danielle was brought in to be the boots on the ground for the project.
“I sent out awareness e-mails and we are very pleased with a number of sightings of vultures in the project zone which have been reported to us.
“We are not sure if this indicates there is breeding taking place, but once a safe zone is created it brings hope that they will naturally return to their breeding cliffs, as has happened in other zones.
“We have had sightings of five to 10 birds on farms in Middleberg area, at the Mountain Zebra National Park and at private reserves in the Graaff-Reinet area this year. One was feeding and others were soaring.”
Stern and Du Toit said: “There is a good vibe about the project. We should have a map developed soon which identifies areas of concern and gives us a precise idea on how to address the threats, how to make the landscape safe, and once the landscape is free of threats, naturally encourage vultures to return to their historical ranges in the Karoo. The area, once safe for vultures, may also present an important site for the release of captive bred or rehabilitated birds.”
They said the project was well placed as it was in the centre of colonies around SA.
Stern said by creating the Karoo safezone, “we will also be creating safe zones for many other animals, such as blue cranes, kori bustards, and martial and Verreaux’s (black) eagles and many other species including mammals”.
Members of the public wishing to learn more can e-mail danielled@ewt.org.za
Numbers of Cape vultures have declined by about 90% since the 1970s. Currently, it is estimated that there are 8,800 mature individuals left