Staff at Moholoholo Rehabilitation Centre in Hoedspruit are fighting to keep 22 vultures alive after they were found poisoned next to a buffalo carcass in the Kruger National Park.

On Thursday, August 11, Sanparks reported the horrific incident of suspected poisoning close to the fence in the Punda Maria section of the KNP.

Rangers on patrol discovered the carcass of a buffalo which appeared to have been laced with poison. They also found over 100 dead vultures and a dead hyena likely to have fed off the carcass.

With the assistance of the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), the birds found next to the scene which were still alive were rushed to Shingwedzi and Moholoholo Rehabilitation Centre for treatment.

“We had around 28 vultures and we are now left with 22. Two ladies brought them around 02:00 to our centre and since then we have been checking them every two hours to see if there are some which have improved,” says Brian Jones from the centre.

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“We are doing all we can to make sure that we save as many vultures as we can,” he says.

According to him, they were informed of another incident in Botswana where 50 poisoned vultures were found with their heads, feet, and organs removed. It is believed that body parts are used in traditional medicine.

Yolan Friedman, CEO of the EWT expressed her concern that ‘given the critical status of vultures globally, poisonings at this scale place the species at increasing risk of extinction’.

The scene in KNP was cordoned off for further investigation and the carcasses have been burned to ensure that there are no further poisonings.

Initial indications are that some of the carcasses were harvested for their body parts. Sanparks says that the matter has been referred to the police for investigation.

Acting CEO of Sanparks, Hapiloe Sello says that ‘this reprehensible act once again highlights the ever-present danger of poisoning by unscrupulous people’.

“We cannot afford to let our guard down and we call on law enforcement agencies outside the park to move swiftly to arrest the perpetrators.”