The decline of Egyptian vultures in Nigeria: threats and conservation efforts , By S. T. Ivande & A. S. Ringim
NEWS DIGEST – Vultures are a group of large birds that predominantly feed on carrion, but opportunistically attack new born or wounded animals. Through their feeding habits, they play a very vital role in the ecosystem by preventing the spread of contagious diseases from carcass of dead animals to human communities. They are therefore usually referred to as “nature’s clean-up crew”. Vultures provide this cleaning service for free, hence saving us lots of money that would have to be spent to rid the environment of these carcasses or for medical care in cases where filthy environments lead disease outbreaks. There are about 22 different species of vultures in the world. Among these important birds is the Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus), which has some seasonally migratory populations. Egyptian vultures mostly breed in the Balkans in South-eastern Europe during the summer, but they migrate to spend the European winter period in Africa. In Nigeria, it was common to find them around the Northern states of Borno, Jigawa, Zamfara and Katsina, to Sokoto and Kebbi where the Hausa people locally call the Egyptian vulture Ungulun Masar (translated as Ungulu – Vulture and Masar – Egypt) or Farin Ungulu (translated Fari – White and Ungulu – vulture).
Traditionally, this bird is often seen along major roads, abattoirs, slaughter- houses, slabs, and rubbish dumps. In Hausa folklore, vultures, including Egyptian vulture are associated with spirits or ghosts. Most locals believed that bad things like madness or accident could happen to anyone who disturbs their nests or young. Traditional healers on one hand, believe that parts (e.g. nests, especially when burnt; droppings; head; wings etc.) of the Egyptian vultures and indeed other vultures could be used to cure health-related issues associated with spirits and psychiatric disorders. Other locals have the traditional beliefs that parts of these vultures can be used in the formulation of charms and portions that can help bearers of these charms to exude charisma, which gives them influence over people. Consequently, it is reported also that demand from local politicians and community leader for vulture body parts (like the right or left wing or the legs) has continued to increase as they believe that these charms can give them great charisma and influence which they believe is need to win elections.
Despite the beneficial role played by the Egyptian vulture in our ecosystem, its population has severely declined in Nigeria. Like elsewhere, this decline has been attributed to wide-ranging threats including poisoning, habitat loss due to human population growth, agricultural practises, direct shooting and persecution, collision with power lines and electrocution, human disturbances at their nest sites, but especially due to belief-based trade and use of their body parts in West Africa.
Between 2011 and 2014, a project was implement, which sought to put in place very urgent measures to help secure the survival of the Egyptian vulture in Bulgaria and Greece – the major breeding areas for this species. This project was implemented by the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) in partnership with the Hellenic Ornithological Society (HOS), World Wildlife Fund-Greece (WWF) and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). As part of this project, some Egyptian vultures were tagged with a Global Positioning System (GPS) transmitter in order to monitor their migration and movement. Through those GPS transmitter, two of those Egyptian vultures were tracked to the Nigeria-Niger border. Unfortunately, both birds were shot and killed by hunters from Nigeria in 2014. Through the help of Dr. S. I. Muhammad, a researcher associated with the A.P. Leventis Ornithological Research Institute (APLORI) located in Jos, Nigeria – West Africa’s foremost institute for conservation and ornithological research – the satellite transmitters on the killed birds were retrieved from Kwalam (Jigawa state) and Minjibir (Kano state). These deliberate killings highlights the critical threats that this species continues to face in West Africa and especially Nigeria, indicating the challenge associated with their conservation.
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The shooting of these tagged birds and other challenges faced by these vultures outside of their breeding areas further highlighted the need for urgent actions aimed at conserving this species to be extended beyond their breeding range. Consequently, a follow-up project was launched in 2017 to implement urgent actions to not only strengthen the Balkan population of the Egyptian vulture, but to also secure its population across its flyway (i.e. its breeding and non-breeding habitats). This Egyptian vulture – New LIFE Project, launched in July 2017 with financial support from the European Union’s LIFE Programme involves institutions and organisations from 14 countries spanning the Balkans, Middle East and Africa. These 14 countries include Bulgaria, Greece, FYR of Macedonia and Albania, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Libya, Egypt, Ethiopia, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria. The main goals of the project are to (1) Reduce adult mortality through: minimizing loss of adults due to deliberate or accidental poisoning and electrocution and collisions with energy infrastructures in the breeding grounds, as well as at congregation sites along the migratory path, (2) Reinforce the breeding population on the Balkans by deploying a targeted pilot restocking programme to boost population recovery, and (3) Increase awareness of and support for Egyptian vulture conservation through relevant stakeholders engagement.
In Nigeria, one of the project partners is APLORI. As part of this project, a field team of ornithologists from APLORI has been travelling across the Northern states in Nigeria in search of Egyptian vultures. Between 25 and 28 October 2018, the team surveyed over eight (8) Local Governments in Yobe State, covering more than 1436 kilometres, without sighting a single Egyptian vulture. Similarly, from 15 to 23 of November 2018, two teams independently conducted a road transect survey of 2783 kilometres in Jigawa, and 2110 kilometres in Yobe without a single sight of Egyptian vulture. Again, the team also visited sites that should typically have vultures including abattoirs, slaughter houses, slabs, and rubbish dumps. Again, no Egyptian vultures or any other vultures were found during this survey. Power line surveys were also conducted in search for any evidence of electrocution as a problem for this species in ten (10) Local Governments in Jigawa and nine (9) LGAs in Yobe State still with no sighting of the Egyptian vulture. More trips were conducted between 3 to 8 of December 2018 in areas around Zamfara and Sokoto States, up to some villages bordering Kebbi, covering over 2000 kilometres still with no sighting of any Egyptian vulture, albeit an individual Hooded vulture was sighted in Shuni, Sokoto.
During the course of these surveys, the field team has continued to interact with local communities asking them about Egyptian vulture or other vultures. Many respondents from these communities report that vultures are now very rare in the area with many of them reporting their last sighting of vultures as far as 20 to 30 years ago even in areas around the abattoirs where vultures used to be very common. The team also interacted with the Angas people in Babura of Jigawa, who are very famous for hiking between Niger, Chad, Libya and Nigeria. One Angas hiker, who at the time of the survey recently hiked from Libya to Nigeria narrated that he had no encounter with vultures. It was the general consensus by most of the interviewed locals that the Egyptian vulture and indeed all vulture species are now very rare.
This disturbing observation of such drastic and severe declines in the population of vultures means that these local communities may no longer enjoy the free ecological service that vultures, which are often considered as “nature’s clean-up crew” provide. Urgent actions to reverse the negative population trend of this magnificent but important species are therefore necessary and ought to be promoted. The Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), another project partner and the foremost non-governmental organisation that advocates nature conservation in Nigeria continues to work in this area to discourage this unsustainable practice of killing and use of vulture body parts and continues to encourage locals to adopt other plant-based alternatives. Both project partners in Nigeria; APLORI and NCF realise the need for robust awareness raising and sensitization campaigns about the critical roles of vultures and other biodiversity in the ecosystem and will continue to work towards this goal. Local support for this initiative is also being sought from all stakeholders including researchers, local chiefs and rulers, local hunters, traditional healers, conservation scientists and managers, and indeed the public. It is hoped that continuous dissemination of conservation knowledge would help change the attitude and perceptions of the locals about vultures and other biodiversity.
