Ground Hornbills in the spotlight at Modderfontein
The project relies heavily on sponsorships and public funding
Described as big, black, booming, vulnerable birds, Southern Ground Hornbills take centre stage at the evening meeting of Modderfontein Conservation Society in Modderfontein Town Hall, at 1 Casino Road, at 7:30pm on Thursday, June 23.
The presentation will focus on the conservation of these birds outside of protected areas. Known as the Mabula Ground Hornbill Project, it has a mandate to slow, halt and then reverse the decline of the Endangered Southern Ground-Hornbill, an ecologically and culturally important bird. The species is swiftly declining to Critically Endangered with only an estimated 400-500 breeding females left.
“We have, over the past decade, developed a number of successful conservation interventions,” explains project manager, Lucy Kemp, “but have now reached a stage where we must expand our work in order to make a difference at the population scale. Our work is both multi-disciplinary and multi-pronged as this swiftly declining species requires more than one intervention in order to be effective.
“The reasons for their decline are predominantly loss of habitat to croplands, bush-encroachment, overgrazing and plantations, loss of nesting trees, secondary poisoning and electrocution. The Mabula Ground-Hornbill Project is working to slow the decline.”
Kemp has a background in zoology (MSc Univ of Cape Town) and has worked on a number of conservation projects, including wild dog and cheetah census in the Kruger National Park; black rhino and several game species in the Kunene Region of Namibia, among many others.
The project relies heavily on sponsorships and public funding.
Visitors are welcome. There is a charge of R30 at the door to help cover expenses.
For more information, contact Jenny Gough on 011 452 2201 or 082 685 0959.
