In July, a group of conservationists gathered on a South African mountaintop, wind whipping through their hair. Five wooden crates holding vultures sat at their feet. South African nonprofit Vulpro had rescued the birds, and now they would be heading back into the wild in the hopes of rebounding Africa’s dwindling vulture population.
These five birds faced many of the threats vultures encounter when trying to survive in the wild. Two were smuggled to be used in traditional medicine before conservation and welfare officials intercepted their trade. Poachers had plucked all the wing feathers off one of them. It would take almost a year for her to become healthy enough to return to the wild. Two birds were found with major injuries. The last bird was rescued while waterlogged in a waterway, unable to fly.
Audrey Delsink/Humane World for Animals
One by one, Dr. Audrey Delsink of our South Africa wildlife team and other conservationists opened the flaps of the crates. One by one, the giant vultures emerged. The first bird quickly flew off. The other four were more apprehensive. One bird sat near his crate, appearing unsure what to do. He craned his bald head toward the sky where one of the four other vultures soared above. He then leapt into the air.
Staff members with Humane World South Africa and Vulpro watched the birds disappear into the skyline. The day’s release was a small part of the Vulpro’s ongoing vulture rehabilitation and relocation project.
How rehabilitation gives vultures a second chance
Vultures desperately need the help.
The five rescued birds were all Cape vultures—a species threatened with extinction. It’s a trend seen across the 23 vulture species found across the globe. Nine are critically endangered, two are endangered, and five are vulnerable or near threatened.
In fact, vultures are considered the most threatened group of birds on the planet.
Only seven of the 23 vulture species have stable or increasing populations. The rest are at risk.
Vulpro has been working to help African vulture populations before it's too late. Since 2007, it’s rehabilitated and released more than 450 vultures into the wild. Rescued vultures who cannot survive in the wild breed in Vulpro’s care. They raise their own chicks and also care for eggs and chicks found orphaned in the wild by conservationists. More than 50 captive-bred birds have been released so far.
After talking with Vulpro about the threats vultures are facing, Delsink says it was a “no-brainer” to get involved. Humane World recently funded a breeding enclosure for endangered lappet-faced vultures and a hatchling enclosure for critically endangered white-backed vultures.
An adult Cape vulture and a chick snuggle in their nest. (Photo by Kerri Wolter/Vulpro)
Despite the dire situation, vultures don’t receive a lot of conservation attention. Because they eat the carcasses of dead animals, vultures are often portrayed in pop culture as evil or foreshadowing death, says Kerri Wolter, chief executive officer at Vulpro.
“Human beings are scared of death and so [vultures are] never portrayed in a positive light,” she says. “They're never portrayed as to why they are scavengers and how all of us—the environment, ecosystems and species—benefit from that.”
It’s exactly this ecosystem service that’s driving their extinction.
Why are global vulture populations declining
Humans have brought a wide swath of poisons into animals’ habitats. Humans hunt animals with lead bullets and poison wild animals and free-roaming dogs deemed nuisances. After animals die from exposure to these toxins, vultures can consume their carcasses and become unintended victims. Hundreds of vultures can feast on a single dead animal, so even small levels of poisoning can have disastrous impacts on vulture populations.
Vultures also must navigate an increasingly human-altered landscape. With their massive bodies and limited frontal vision, many vultures struggle to avoid power lines and wind turbines and die from collisions or electrocution. On hot and dry days, vultures may bathe in human-made reservoirs on cattle farms and drown when water levels are too low for them to climb the steep walls.
Vulture population declines reached a crisis point in the 1990s. Heading into the decade, there were as many as 50 million vultures in India. A few years later, the number of Indian vultures fell over an estimated 95%.
A vulture at a watering hole in Karnataka, India.
The scale and speed of the population crash was simply unprecedented. “The decline of vultures in India is the fastest of a bird species in recorded history and the largest in magnitude since the extinction of the passenger pigeon in the United States,” says a 2024 study about the impact vulture population declines had on human health.
At first, no one knew why vultures were dying in such great numbers. Then, in 2004, researchers found that a painkiller called diclofenac given to dairy cows was highly toxic to vultures. Vultures were exposed to the drug when they ate cow carcasses. Two years after the discovery, the Indian government banned the veterinary use of diclofenac.
At the same time Indian vulture populations were crashing, a concurrent crisis was growing in Africa, this one fueled by intentional killings. Vultures are often poisoned so their body parts can be used for traditional medicine and as good luck charms. They’re also poisoned by big game poachers who don’t want them circling over the animals they’ve just killed, which can alert authorities to poachers’ presence.
“These are not just numbers,” says Delsink. “As well as being a welfare issue for the individuals involved, these deaths represent generations of lost breeding potential, broken social structures and another step towards extinction. The loss of these birds is catastrophic.”
Why vultures are vital for healthy ecosystems
Losing vultures would be a huge blow to wildlife conservation. It’d also likely impact human health.
Vultures remove carcasses from the environment that would otherwise be left to fester bacteria. Due to their incredibly acidic stomachs, vultures can safely eat carcasses with pathogens such as rabies, tuberculosis and anthrax.
In underserved areas where access to sanitation and health care resources are limited, the services vultures provide are particularly important.
Recently, researchers with the University of Chicago and University of Warwick quantified the impact vultures have on communities that live near them. Their 2024 study published in American Economic Review found that an estimated half a million people died between 2000 and 2005 due to the mass die-off of vultures in India. Areas with highly suitable vulture habitats saw a more than 4% increase in human death rates.
Kerri Wolter/Vulpro
Kerri Wolter/Vulpro
As we learn more about all the good vultures do, Delsink thinks people will care more about conserving them in the wild.
At Vulpro’s facilities in South Africa, white-backed and Cape vulture chicks have started to hatch—23 this season alone. For the first time ever, a lappet-faced vulture laid an egg in the organization’s care. The chick is expected to hatch at the end of September. “We’re pretty chuffed,” Wolter says.
Still, these birds will face a turbulent future in the wild. It’s tough to be a vulture. But these new generations of birds could help change the tides. Delsink is optimistic: “Every bird that goes back into the wild is hope for the future.”
Watch Humane World and Vulpro release rehabilitated vultures back into the wild
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