A highlight of our trip to South Africa was stopping by the Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. A multitude of different South African species that have been injured, abandoned, or poisoned are brought to this facility for rehabilitation and potential re-release. Among the cheetahs, lions and leopards, the facility held a variety of different raptors. Out of all the different eagles and vultures, I found the Bateleur Eagle to hold my attention the longest. The bright red legs and face on this bird of prey made it extremely intimidating yet elegant. I was appalled to learn that the main cause for the populations’ decline was due to poachers and commercial farmers poisoning these beautiful animals. After learning this terrible truth, the urge to find a solution grew within me.
It is very common for south African raptors to feed on farmers livestock, which can bring about financial problems for the farmers. As a method of preventing birds of prey from feeding on their livestock, farmers and poachers will often place “carcasses that are baited with highly toxic agricultural pesticides” that have a deadly effect (AEWA, 2016). The most common is Carbofuran, a pesticide used to control insects that overtake crop fields. These birds are not only poisoned by farmers, but poachers as well. Often times these birds, as well as vultures, will circle elephants and rhinos that have been killed by poachers, which often attracts the park rangers to the sight. To avoid being detected, poachers will lace carcasses with poison to kill off the birds that act as red flags. The death of the Bateleur eagle is often an externality of South African traditional medicine. Vultures are looked at as sacred in some beliefs and are used for some traditional medicines (Greef, 2019). Vultures are usually caught by poisoning carcasses and the Bateleur eagle is often attracted to the same carcass the vultures eat from, resulting in death more often than not.
The population of Bateleur eagles within the boundaries of national parks has not been affected by poisoning, but those residing outside of these boundaries are not so lucky. It is estimated that there has been nearly a 100% decline of Bateleur eagle population outside of national parks (Hancock, Kendall, Middleton, Steyn & Watson, 2012). In August of 2015, Representatives from different countries and many wildlife experts met in Cape town, South Africa do discuss the issue of poisoning migratory birds. Institutions such as The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Wild Animals (CMS), The Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA), and other United Nations Environmental Programme instruments convened for the meeting. Over one hundred countries agreed to the guidelines that prohibit the use of poison baits for predator control. The meeting also created legislation that enforces the existing laws regarding wildlife conservation and restricted access to toxic substances (AEWA, 2016). While these new regulations are helping, there are still those who illegally obtain these toxic substances for the use of killing these beautiful birds. Since catching poachers has proven to be very difficult, it is likely that we will continue to see a decline in the population of the Bateleur eagle.
Works Cited
Greef, Kimon de. “500 Vultures Killed in Botswana by Poachers’ Poison, Government Says.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 22 June 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/21/world/africa/vultures-poisoned-botswana-poachers-elephants.html/.
“Bateleur Eagle.” The National Aviary — Bateleur Eagle (Tetrathopius Ecaudatus), https://www.aviary.org/animals/Bateleur-Eagle.
“Countries Meet to Tackle Poisoning of Birds in Southern Africa.” AEWA, 9 June 2016, https://www.unep-aewa.org/en/news/countries-meet-tackle-poisoning-birds-southern-africa.
Hancock, Pete, et al. Terathopius Ecaudatus, 21 May 2012, http://www.globalraptors.org/grin/SpeciesResults.asp?specID=8342.
