The first Saturday of September is International Vulture Awareness Day. There are 23 species of vultures in the world, and many of them are considered threatened or endangered, with a few classified as critically endangered. Without effective conservation initiatives, some vulture species can become extinct within our lifetime.
Unfortunately, vultures are very misunderstood. Vultures eat carrion (dead animals), so many people associate them with death or think they are dirty animals. However, vultures are critically important to healthy ecosystems. They clean carcasses bare before diseases can spread. Vultures can be separated into two main groups: Old World (Africa, Europe, and Asia) and New World (South America and North America). All vultures are facing threats, but the crisis is especially bad in Africa.
Threats facing vultures including:
- Poisoning due to lead ammunition left by hunters, agricultural pesticides, and poachers trying to get vultures for illegal trade
- Electrocution due to power lines
- Vehicle collisions and wind farm collisions
- Starvation when carcasses are removed before vultures are able to find them
- Persecution. Many people think that vultures are a sign of death and that they harm healthy livestock. Both of these beliefs are untrue.
- Habitation fragmentation
Things you can do to help vultures include:
- Supporting conservation organizations who are working to help save vultures
- Avoiding lead ammunition if you hunt and retrieving spent ammunition so birds are not able to consume it
- Driving carefully, especially around roadkill, to avoid accidentally colliding with vultures
- Spreading the word about how important vulture are and celebrating International Vulture Awareness Day
Our health and the health of ecosystems all over the world depend on vultures. Vultures are amazing birds who need our help, so please spread the word!
If you want to learn some reasons why vultures are awesome, check out my post from May 2016 called Nature’s Sanitation Crew.(It’s one of my favorite posts that I’ve written lol!)
You can also check out these resources:
The Vulture Crisis from BirdLife International
The Vulture Conservation Foundation
BirdNation 