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A pride of lions feast on a carcass while tourists snap away at their cameras. No one bothers with the birds patiently waiting their turn in the periphery despite the major role they play in the ecosystem. These birds, vultures, are an unappreciated species threatened with extinction unless something is done to stop it.
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| Rüppell’s Vulture (Gyps rueppellii). Five out of eight species of vultures are threatened in Kenya. Photo by Tui De Roy |
A decade ago, none of the vultures found in Kenya were listed as a threatened species. Now, however, five out of eight species are threatened and their populations continue to decline. The decline is attributed to their consumption of poisoned baits, which pastoralists use to kill large predators that attack their livestock. Because vultures congregate in large numbers, more than 100 can be killed by a single carcass. Vultures are long-lived and reproduce slowly therefore these mass poisonings have devastated their populations and led to their disappearance throughout East Africa.
On the Ol Pejeta Conservancy we appreciate the role vultures’ play and on the 7th October, in collaboration with the Raptor Working Group, held an event to educate the public on the importance of vultures to the environment.
Six of the sister schools had students attend this event.
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