“We would like to thank everyone who attended our vulture release at the beginning of February,” said Becky Lambert, clinic nurse at Moholoholo. “It was wonderful to share such a special moment and we hope you left with an admiration for vultures and hopefully learnt something from Brian Jones’ and John Davies’ talks.” On the day of the release, Moholoholo and the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), first tagged the birds.

“Two hooded and two white-backed vultures were fitted with satellite harnesses. These satellite harnesses provide important information on the birds’ movements and can even tell us if the bird has died,” she said. The remaining vultures (two Cape vultures and three white-backed vultures) were fitted with wing tags and silver leg rings. “These wing tags have proved invaluable when it comes to resightings,” she explained.

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She said that it also shows whether the treatment they provide is working and whether the animals have been successfully rehabilitated. “It is wonderful to know that the individuals you have worked so hard to save are still doing well many years later and have luckily not succumbed to any further danger. The wing tags are instrumental to knowing if our treatment is successful in the long term.” She said a brown snake eagle was brought to them late one evening recently.

“We suspected it to be poisoned from water contaminated with pesticides. We treated him according to our poisoning protocol and luckily, he recovered well.”