Charm offensive to highlight vital role played by vultures
What is mischievous, endearing and enjoys its T-bones well aged?
The vulture may not be everyone’s cup of tea but Wednesday and Pugsley are set to highlight the key health and environmental role the species plays, and the dire threats they face.
The two Cape vultures have been introduced in The Wasteland, a new facility at the Cango Wildlife Ranch in Oudtshoorn, where they will soon begin their work of winning over the hearts and minds of visitors.
Tammy Moult, 31, the ranch’s assistant director of tourism, said vultures were all too often depicted in movies and books as gloomy and villainous, and in various cultures they were considered to be symbols of death because they fed on carrion.
She said this was unfair, as the bird’s character and its rejuvenating role in nature was clear to anyone who probed a little deeper.
“We aim to change this prevailing view of vultures with our brand-new vulture enclosure and our two beautiful resident Cape vultures.
“The names we’ve given them may sound a bit ominous but, in fact, they are playful, mischievous and endearing youngsters.”
Wednesday and Pugsley were born at Vulpro, the Southern African vulture rehabilitation, research and breeding facility in the Magaliesberg.
Most Vulpro offspring born are released into the wild but a few are kept for their breeding programme or to be deployed as “vulture ambassadors” at tourism and education facilities, and it was for this purpose the birds were sent to the ranch in November.
Moult said vultures faced multiple threats.
“These include declining habitat, power-line electrocutions and accidents, poisoning and killing due to various cultural beliefs.
“Some vulture species are critically endangered and face extinction within our lifetime.”
She said vultures were nature’s cleanup crew.
“They are experts in the field when it comes to keeping bacteria and diseases at bay, as their stomach acid is strong enough to kill most natural toxins.
“As a result, vultures play a crucial role in natural carcass recycling and the health of ecosystems.”
The Cape vulture, idlanga in isiXhosa, is the only vulture species endemic to Southern Africa.
It is classified as endangered and there are just 2,900 breeding pairs left, with 300 pairs in the Eastern Cape, most of them at Collywobbles near Dutywa and Karnmelkspruit between Lady Grey and Barkly East.
Moult said Wednesday and Pugsley were being trained to feel comfortable with visitors in controlled close-up encounters, which would begin soon.
“On entering The Wasteland, you may feel like you are walking into a burial ground, with petrifying scavengers waiting to pick you apart — but when you exit, after having met the two ‘ghastly creatures’, we guarantee you will feel inspired to make a difference in our fight to save these magnificent birds.”