Bird deaths still probed
Conservationists still unsure about the kind of poison used to kill white-back vultures in Lionspruit
MARLOTH PARK – The death of 12 vultures last week in Lionspruit, the nature reserve next to this holiday destination Marloth Park, remains unexplained.
Onderstepoort State Veterinary Services hasn’t completed its analysis on the dead birds yet.
Dr Johann Coetzee, state-veterinarian of Nkomazi Local Municipality (NKLM), told Lowvelder that it looked like organophosphate poisoning, but his department was still waiting for confirmation.
Temik, also known as Two-step, is an organophosphate widely used by crop farmers like sugar-cane farmers as well as poachers.
The manager of the Birds of Prey of Endangered Wildlife Trust, Mr André Botha, told Lowvelder that “Temik was banned in South Africa last year, but there is still a lot of it doing the rounds. It is also still used by farmers in Mozambique and Zimbabwe”.
Coetzee said Botha had contacted them with information on how to deal with the death of the vultures and the two birds which survived. Coetzee added that no other carcasses had been found with that of the vultures and that only one of these showed signs of having been preyed upon.
The head of the Moholoholo Rehabilitation Centre, Mr Brian Jones, also told Lowvelder that it looked like Temik poisoning. “The organophosphate that killed the birds is widely used by sugar-cane farmers, as well as on various crops. I think that a predator like a jackal might have eaten the dead vulture, because vultures wouldn’t eat vulture meat or rotten meat. I suspect they had eaten a contaminated predator’s carcass and that caused their subsequent death.”
The two vultures which were still alive, had been injected with atropine to stabilise their hearts by personnel of the State Veterinary Department at NKLM. Some of the carcasses were also transported to the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA) for examination.
The two birds were collected from Lionspruit and transported to White River where they were met by the team of Moholoholo.
They started treating the birds immediately.
They gave both a good dose of water to induce vomiting to rid their systems of the toxins. The weaker one of the two was barely alive.
Jones confirmed to Lowvelder yesterday that both birds were doing very well and that they would be tagged and released within the next week or so.
The Marloth Park municipal game rangers, with the help of Botha, sterilised the area after the removal of the carcasses.
