Durban - After spending most of her existence confined to a small cage, a young adult bearded vulture has been given a new lease of life courtesy of staff at the African Bird of Prey Sanctuary in Pietermaritzburg.
Leseli (which means bird of light) is the only captive bearded vulture in the southern hemisphere and took occupation of a specially designed 9m x 15m enclosure – built against a cliff face at the sanctuary – last week.
Leseli had previously been kept captive in the Drakensberg by a sangoma and was barely able to stretch her wings in the space she occupied.
The bearded vulture is listed as endangered.
Its population has declined by more than 30 percent in recent years and experts believe there are only 320 birds – and 100 breeding pairs – left in the wild.
Conservation officials confiscated Leseli from her captor and brought her to the sanctuary almost a year ago.
At first the hope was to release Leseli back into the wild.
“Unfortunately the bird seemed to be far too tame to release. She showed no inclination to fly,” said sanctuary owner Shannon Hoffman.
The sanctuary set about fundraising to build an enclosure for her, which was ready for her to take occupation of six months and R80 000 later.
Leseli was settling into her new home remarkably well, Hoffman said.
“In the wild these birds usually have brown breasts because of their exposure to sandstone,” she said.
“But, because she was kept captive, Leseli has a white breast.”
Sanctuary staff acquired sandstone from the Drakensberg and used it to construct a mud bath in her enclosure.
“Within 15 minutes she was diving about in it,” Hoffman said.
“She looks gorgeous framed against her magnificent cliff face and will now be an ambassador for her severely threatened wild counterparts.” - The Mercury