[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuxMvufnhkA&NR=1]
Two weeks ago we brought you a clip of an extraordinary lady Kerri Wolter who is also know in some circle as the Vultures whisperer. We had a lots of feedback and many of you asked to learn more about about the Cape Vulture and what can be done to save this magnificent bird from extinction.
Vultures form an important ecological component of our natural environment, cleaning up dead carcasses, decreasing the spread of some diseases. Today in South Africa they face an unprecedented onslaught from modern mans developments, including electrocutions and collisions with electrical structures, poisonings, land-use changes, decrease in food availability as well as as Muti uses which are animals used for traditional healing.
Meet Vulture Conservation. A local South African conservation organization that has taken vultures under their wings. Their program approaches vulture conservation in a multidisciplinary and networked fashion, with the benefit accruing to both the vulture and society at large. By focusing actions on the vulture, positioned at the top of the food chain (literally) as an indicator of the health of the environment below it, this project is destined to not only influence but also impact on the well-being of South Africa’s natural environment.
Photo Credit – Green Renaissance
Cell-phone tracking devises are used to determine foraging and home ranges of a large number of vultures in Southern Africa. The output from such research allows for the monitoring capture-release of free-ranging vultures, the mapping of areas for further actions, such as community education and the safeguarding of vulture food through the monitoring of vulture feeding grounds.
With the many threats vultures are facing throughout southern Africa, vulture rehabilitation has become an essential part of the Vulture Programme. Collecting grounded, injured, poisoned and disabled vultures around South Africa, special emphasis within the Gauteng, North West and Limpopo Provinces, Vulture Conservation are able to save many vultures that would have met their untimely death.
To learn more about about this extraordinary organization and Kerri click here….
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