The De Wildt Vulture Unit was established in 1990 to serve as a rehabilitation and holding facility for injured, poisoned and disabled vultures.

“Vultures, as the crown jewels of the avian world, have roamed our skies for millions of years. They have seen species appearing and disappearing yet their own kind has not changed much in the recent history of the Earth. Humankind has yearned throughout our own evolution to fly like the vultures and we have embedded vultures in our hieroglyphs and rock art as a remembrance of where we all come from. The negligence and ignorance of modern man, however, has taken an enormous toll on vultures. In the dawn of the third millennium we have a critical duty to conserve these creatures as we are just another earthbound species viewed from the heavens by the masters of flight.”

Prof. Gerhard Verdoorn

The unit which was established as a project of the Vulture Study Group of the Endangered Wildlife Trust, was incorporated into the De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Trust on 1 June 2004. With the ongoing growth at De Wildt, education programmes are becoming a focal area and vultures automatically become a part of the educational message being spread throughout rural communities and to the general public.

The unit currently holds 4 species with a total of 91 vultures:

MISSION

To collect injured, poisoned and disabled vultures and to rehabilitate them to a point where they can either be released back into the wild or appropriately accommodated for conservation purposes. To educate the public about the important role vultures play in the ecosystem and to contribute to vulture conservation through research, education and public awareness campaigns.

OBJECTIVES INCLUDE

Objective 1:

• Collect injured, poisoned and disabled vultures from around South Africa.
• Provide a healthy nutritional diet for vultures in captivity.

Objective 2:

• Return fit and healthy specimens to the wild as soon as possible.
• Monitor released vultures to determine their distribution and survival.
• Keep permanently disabled specimens in captivity, providing a safe environment.

Objective 3:

• Utilise the captive birds as far as possible in education and awareness programmes.
• Present talks and live shows on vultures to the farming communities, schools and bird clubs.
• Utilise the captive vultures in research programmes that will benefit both captive and wild populations.
• Build networks amongst the farming community and promote the establishment of vulture restaurants.

Objective 4:

• Encourage the De Wildt captive birds to breed in captivity.

“We have to ask ourselves, how did the vulture – one of the most revered animals in every ancient culture – become reviled in modern day. Are we so concerned about appearances that we have forgotten the practicality of our ecosystem.”

Maria Diekmann

www.vulturerescue.org
www.vulturedecline.org