Once they soared in large numbers over the African veld, but poisoning, electrocution, habitat destruction and local muti markets are wiping out South Africa's vulture populations.
The country is home to nine vulture species, of which seven are now Red Data Book-listed and under threat of extinction, the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) said in a statement, issued to mark National Vulture Awareness Day on Saturday.
"Vultures are faced with various threats including poisoning, persecution, electrocution, collision with powerlines, drowning in farm reservoirs, food shortages and loss of suitable habitat.
"Recent research has shown that vultures are one of the species most threatened by the trade in traditional medicine, and there is strong evidence to suggest that traditional use is partly responsible for the rapid decline of vulture populations in the sub-continent."
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'Vultures are one of the species most threatened by the trade in traditional medicine' Among the endangered vulture species is the Lammergeier or Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus), renowned for its dropping large bones from a height to break them into small pieces, and whose range is now restricted to the Maluti and Drakensberg mountains.
"Its numbers continue to decline," EWT said.
It noted that if the current rate of medicinal use of vulture body parts continued, "some vulture species will be extinct in South Africa by 2020".
Poachers used strong poisons to kill the birds and then sold them to the large urban muti markets around the country, where consumers unknowingly bought parts of these poisoned birds.
"The poison is retained in the dead vulture and does not break down. Should a person ingest it, death or at best serious illness will result," it warned.
In the past two years, more than 1 000 vultures of five different species had been fitted with tags at 14 sites throughout southern Africa, while over 3 000 resightings of these birds had been recorded.
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