A preview of the “On the Trail” bulletin
European Union
Vultures are on their way to becoming as abhorred by agricultural France as wolves. Local press titles are unleashed, boosted by testimonials of farmers who claim to have seen (or almost seen) 50, 100, 200 vultures or more dive down on a newborn calf and his mother and eat both of them as easily as the average person would eat a hamburger. Ahead of the rush of summer tourists in the valleys and mountains of France, the alert extends to injured hikers who could be confused with cow carcasses by vultures, of course griffon ones. Robin des Bois has been concerned by the fear of vultures since November 2014, writing that “After the wolves are approaching Paris, the rumour that vultures attack sheep won ground in the south of France” (“On the Trail” n°6 p.32). And in December 2021, Robin des Bois said ironically that “soon vultures will attack babies in their strollers” (“On the Trail” n°31 p.136). By the way, it is the legend of a child stolen by a vulture that caused the eradication of griffon vultures in Alpine countries between 1850 and 1935.
Griffon vulture © Christian Couloumy – Ecrins National Park
The prefects of the Atlantic-Pyrenees (2009), Ariege (2014), Savoie (2015), and Aveyron (2024) took the lead and authorized scare shots. The wolf has heard it all before. It starts with scare shots, then shots in defense, and the grand final, lethal shots. The signal was heard by poachers and crazed gunmen. In France, the Alpine massif and the Pyrenees are their favourite hunting grounds.
In Romania, a female cinereous vulture with a 3-meter wingspan was shot in a field in April 2024 while feeding on the carcass of a rodent. It was quickly rescued but will never be able to fly freely again. It has a polyfracture to its collarbone. For two years, it had flown 5,000 leagues over North Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine.
In the absence of shootings, agricultural poisons in France, Bulgaria, Spain, Greece, and Italy work well. It makes less noise but kills more. You just have to soak the carcass of a goat with carbofuran, chlorpyrifos, sulfotep, alachlor and demeton, all banned in the EU since the early 2000s, and the good knacker vultures, often in pairs, die as well as other birds of prey, wolves, and golden jackals.
Africa
May 6, 2025, Mahlangeni section of Kruger National Park © SANParks
In South Africa in May 2025, at least 116 vultures were poisoned and killed by an elephant carcass filled with Temik, a violent agricultural poison. Vultures are poorly regarded. For poachers, they’re seen as informants. While circling above the bodies of large mammals killed by silenced firearms, vultures alert rangers, preventing poachers from cutting tusks and other trophies before they’re caught.
In South Africa and neighbouring countries, black magic stimulates poaching. Vulture beaks are worn in protection amulets and their eyes are eaten to improve vision. Their brains are dried and crushed into an extract that allegedly allows people to predict lottery numbers, succeed in sports bets, and improve their performances in academic and business affairs. A new kind of joints made with the brain extract are supposed to increase intelligence when smoked. In 2020 and 2021, a new plague fell upon the vultures. Rumours started by smugglers spread like wildfire, claiming that the heads and beaks of vultures repelled Covid-19. The vulture became a vaccine, and millions of them were poisoned and decapitated, before being gathered up and burned in Guinea-Bissau. This charlatanism spread as far as Kenya.
Formerly regarded as the embodiment of immortality, metempsychosis, faithfulness, and love of parents for their children, today vultures are threatened by rumours, poaching, intolerance of farmers, electrocution by high-voltage lines, shredding by wind turbine blades, and lead poisoning, like the Californian condors. In Africa, the populations of Cape vultures (Gyps coprotheres), lappet-faced vultures (Torgos tracheliotus), hooded vultures (Necrosyrtes monachus), and white-backed vultures (Gyps africanus) are in trouble, like those of griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus), cinereous vultures (Aegypius monachus), Egyptian vultures (Neophron percnopterus) and bearded vultures (Gypaetus barbatus) (despite reintroduction efforts) in Europe.
Vultures are useful creatures. They play a prophylactic role and they have a vocation of undertaker. They eat placentas and stillborns from lambing and calving outdoors. Vultures are protectors of both the environment and public health and hygiene.
To learn all about the poaching of vultures, goldfinches, tarantulas, frogs, and sea cucumbers, read “On the Trail”. The 45th issue will be published mid-June.
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