\u201cIf there aren\u2019t tagged birds, and there aren\u2019t people focused on this, you\u2019re going to miss a lot of the poisonings happening,\u201d Kendall says. \u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing in Serengeti seems to be very much belief-based trade driven. That seems to be the primary driver and so we are very concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n
Each poisoning followed a similar pattern: A large animal like a wildebeest or zebra was snared, killed and butchered as bait. The carcass was then poisoned with what park rangers believe is carbofuran, a highly toxic pesticide that\u2019s banned in Tanzania and many other countries.<\/p>\n
Arrests of poachers and traditional healers following the 2023 incident pointed toward an organized trade for vulture parts.<\/p>\n
According to past research, Serengeti National Park is home to around 10,000 vultures of various species. The latest poisoning incident occurred in the midst of the birds\u2019 breeding season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose chicks might not survive with just one parent trying to raise them,\u201d says Claire Bracebridge, program manager and researcher at North Carolina Zoo.<\/p>\n Serengeti National Park is one of Africa\u2019s most visited protected areas, best known for its huge herds of migrating wildebeest. The park draws hundreds of thousands of tourists hoping to glimpse Africa\u2019s \u201cBig Five\u201d each year. Vultures may not be high on the must-see list, but they form an integral part of the Serengeti\u2019s ecosystem.<\/p>\n The birds help cleanse the landscape of carcasses, removing harmful bacteria and viruses in the process. According to Kendall, their role may be even more important there. It\u2019s estimated that vultures and other scavengers consume the vast majority of the carcasses left on the landscape, far more than predators such as lions and hyenas.<\/p>\n In some places, a decline in vulture populations has been linked to serious ecosystem and human health impacts. A study conducted in India, for example, linked the collapse of vulture populations to 500,000 human deaths caused by increases in viruses such as rabies.<\/p>\n Like elsewhere in Africa, vultures in Tanzania are highly threatened. Past research by Kendall and her team highlighted the threat of poisoning to vultures in southern Tanzania, including in protected areas. In Serengeti in the north, highly endangered species such as white-backed vultures (Gyps africanus), lappet-faced vultures (Torgos tracheliotos) and R\u00fcppell\u2019s vultures (Gyps rueppelli) have all been killed.<\/p>\n The black market wildlife trade isn\u2019t the only threat the birds face from humans. Vultures have also been casualties of human-wildlife conflict when they consume poison-laced carcasses intended to kill predators. But Kendall says the evidence points to demand for their body parts as the culprit in the three cases.<\/p>\n Deus Sita, a Sukuma traditional healer, tells Mongabay that use of vulture parts for medicine is common among people who live near Serengeti.<\/p>\n \u201cDemand is also increasing, primarily due to the Sukuma people, who are the main users of this medicine,\u201d Sita says.<\/p>\n That demand is driven by a belief that concoctions made from the birds\u2019 brain and feet can improve memory, help foresee the future and predict bad fortune. One vulture head \u2014 dried, ground up and mixed with other herbs \u2014 can treat up to 300 people, according to Sita, as only a small amount is used. The heads sell for relatively low prices, but profit margins are high for practitioners of these treatments.<\/p>\n \u201cThis practice is widespread across mainland Tanzania,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Similar beliefs are one of the primary causes of the decline in West Africa\u2019s vulture populations.<\/p>\n In the past, Sita says he used vulture parts in his practice, but now he acts as a \u201cchampion\u201d in a conservation program run by the NGO Nature Tanzania. He advocates for the protection of the birds and the use of viloto (Biophytum crassipes), a plant-based alternative to vulture parts. The organization has 56 traditional healers on board who raise awareness and report on vulture trade activities in their region.<\/p>\n \u201cAs an ambassador, I volunteer my time, often leading campaigns alongside Nature Tanzania staff because of my deep love and commitment to vulture conservation,\u201d Sita says. \u201cThe message I have to people is that we must stop killing vultures because they help clean our natural environment.\u201d<\/p>\n Controlling the belief-based trade is crucial to protecting vultures in Serengeti and elsewhere in Tanzania. But George Lohay, head scientist with the Grumeti Fund, a conservation NGO that works in Serengeti, tells Mongabay it won\u2019t be easy.<\/p>\n \u201cPoachers have easy access to various poisons, and the expansive size of protected areas, such as Serengeti National Park, makes detection challenging,\u201d he says. \u201cAdditionally, the combination of poison with nonselective snares complicates law enforcement\u2019s ability to identify poachers before they inflict harm.\u201d<\/p>\n Kendall says conservationists need a better grasp of the trade and how it functions.<\/p>\n \u201cJust like in West Africa, we need to understand the practices around this \u2014 what traditional healers are using the product, who is soliciting need for their use, and who is killing the birds and where,\u201d she says. \u201cBeyond that, more in-depth investigation into where the heads end up would be helpful. Are vulture heads from Serengeti being used elsewhere in Tanzania, elsewhere in Africa?\u201d<\/p>\n Alpha Mfilinge, a conservation officer with Nature Tanzania, tells Mongabay that engaging with traditional healers like Sita and giving rangers tools to respond quickly to poisoning incidents has yielded \u201cpositive results.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Mfilinge, no poisoning incidents have been recorded over the past six months in the Makao Wildlife Management Area, a reserve to the south of Serengeti where Nature Tanzania works.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, it is crucial to scale up these efforts, particularly in areas where there is evidence of vulture poisoning incidents,\u201d Mfilinge says. \u201cThis should go hand in hand with strengthening law enforcement and the legal framework that supports vulture conservation.\u201d<\/p>\n Mongabay contacted TANAPA, the national parks authority, for comment on the July incident but didn\u2019t receive a response.<\/p>\n \u201cTo combat this threat, we need a collaborative approach between individuals, conservation organizations, government institutions, and communities,\u201d Lohay says. \u201cWhile it is crucial to increase patrol efforts in areas where poisoning has occurred, conducting extensive campaigns and raising community awareness, particularly among the Sukuma people, is equally important.\u201d<\/p>\n A national vulture action plan is also under development by the Tanzanian Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism and the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute. The plan will include a strategy to address the belief-based trade.<\/p>\n \u201cThis newly endorsed plan will provide the imperative and framework to scale-up activities,\u201d says North Carolina Zoo\u2019s Bracebridge, \u201cand ensure collaborative and cohesive efforts to try to tackle the extent of the poisoning and stabilize the dwindling vulture populations.\u201d<\/p>\n Kendall, C. J., Rubenstein, D. I., Slater, P. L., & Monadjem, A. (2017). An assessment of tree availability as a possible cause of population declines in scavenging raptors. Journal of Avian Biology, 49(1). doi:10.1111\/jav.01497<\/p>\n Frank, E., & Sudarshan, A. (2024). The social costs of keystone species collapse: Evidence from the decline of vultures in India. American Economic Review, 114(10), 3007-3040. doi:10.1257\/aer.20230016<\/p>\n Peters, N. M., Kendall, C. J., Davies, J. G., Bracebridge, C., Nicholas, A., Mgumba, M. P., & Beale, C. M. (2023). Identifying priority locations to protect a wide-ranging endangered species. Biological Conservation, 277, 109828. doi:10.1016\/j.biocon.2022.109828<\/p>\n Peters, N. M., Beale, C. M., Bracebridge, C., Mgumba, M. P., & Kendall, C. J. (2022). Combining models for animal tracking: Defining behavioural states to understand space use for conservation. Journal of Biogeography, 49(11), 2016-2027. doi:10.1111\/jbi.14483<\/p>\nA worrying trend<\/h2>\n
Tackling the trade<\/h2>\n
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