Nature retreat gets donation of filly carcase for vulture restaurant on Long Tom Pass
A vulture restaurant is not just for vultures, but also for other scavengers.
Gerda and Brian Whitehorn of Paardeplaats Nature Retreat on the Long Tom Pass, collected the carcase of a filly that had recently unexpectedly lost its life, from Dirk Coetzee on April 16 in the Ohrigstad district for their vulture restaurant.
The Whitehorns are part of a group of landowners and farmers who are avidly finding ways to provide suitable food sources for these birds.
It is important that a vulture restaurant receives non-toxic, poison-free meat and carcases. The restaurant is not just for vultures, but also for other scavengers.
“The conservation of all animal species is very high on the priority list of Paardeplaats. Sometimes I wish that horses and other critters would die more often to sustain the restaurant more regularly. But we are grateful for donations. Dirk Coetzee called us just before church on April 16 to collect the filly. He and his friend, Dirk Grobler, helped load the carcase on the bakkie,” said Gerda.
Any donation is welcome to sustain the vulture restaurant. The Whitehorns can be contacted on 079 515 7799.
Facts about vultures from the Endangered Wildlife Trust:
The biggest threat to Africa’s vultures is poisoning. These birds have declined drastically over the past 30 years, and four of the 11 species are now critically endangered. As scavengers, vultures are extremely vulnerable to poisoning, particularly in carcases laced with lethal pesticides.
Sometimes they are not the intended targets, but are victims of secondary poisoning when they eat a poisoned animal targeted due to human-wildlife conflict or for other reasons. Hundreds of vultures often eat from the same carcase, so one animal can kill the birds and other scavenging animals. In Africa, vultures are also deliberately poisoned by poachers to prevent the birds from alerting authorities to poachers’ illegal activities when they circle over recent kills. They are also poisoned for harvesting and selling for belief-based use.
Other known threats to vultures include collisions with and electrocutions on energy infrastructure, reduced available food sources, fragmentation, loss of breeding and foraging habitat, and disturbance. Source: www.ewt.org.za.
