Poisoned rhino carcasses are killing off vultures

As the environmental minister puts forward an intensive plan to fight rhino poaching in the country, rhino poachers have been poisoning rhino carcasses and killing off yet another endangered species – the vulture.

02 September 2011 | EMMAH NGOMANE

As the environmental minister puts forward an intensive plan to fight rhino poaching in the country, rhino poachers have been poisoning rhino carcasses and killing off yet another endangered species – the vulture.

Yesterday, Kerri Wolter of the Vulture Conservation Programme expressed concern at the growing trend of poisoning the rhino carcass after cutting off the horns, in an attempt at getting rid of vultures. “When there’s a killing, vultures act as indicators, alerting the owners of game reserves of the killing. For poachers to be secretive and stop the vultures from alerting anyone, they are now poisoning the carcasses and killing the vultures,” he said.

Wolter said the biggest concern is the rate at which the vultures are being killed off. “Vultures feed in groups so one poisoned rhino carcass can kill at least 50 vultures at one go. This is frightening considering the fact that in Southern Africa, we only have 2 400 pairs of breeding Cape Vultures,” she said.

Wolter said there are nine species of vulture in Southern Africa and the ones being affected by the poisoning of rhino carcasses in the country include the Cape Vulture, the Lappet-faced Vulture and the Hooded vulture.

SA National Parks spokesman Wanda Mkutshulwa said they were not aware of the plight of vultures.