If you are already a vulture PRO, itâs all good, keep scrollinâ, baby.
NOT A VULTURE PRO? THEN READ ON, FRIEND.
VULTURES: SOME ARE LIKELY GOING EXTINCT, RAPIDLY:
As you are aware, vultures exist. But did you know that many species of vultures are so critically endangered, that researchers are worried that some might be extinct before the turn of the decade? Itâs 2016, bud, so thatâs in only four years.
Horrifyingly, a handful of vulture species have dropped by a staggering 90% since the 1980s. The White-Rumped Vulture alone has lost 99.9% of its population since the 1990s. You know all those âYou were a child of the 80s/90s if you remember ____â memes floating around? Slap some vultures in there with the words âthe most abundant raptor in the world during your childhood is now one of the most endangeredâ. Thatâs right folks, in the span of your lifetime, this bird has gone from several million, to less than 9,000. Other species have seen similar declines.
SO WHO CARES, THEY ARE GROSS/UGLY:
First of all, how dare. Vultures are my beautiful children. But seriously, vultures are very important no matter how beautiful (or.. uglyâŚ) you think they are. Vultures are wicked good at eating carrion, and unlike most other scavengers, vultures are a dead-end for many diseases. What this means is that when a vulture eats a carcass that has botulism, rabies, tetanus, anthrax, fusobacteria (linked to colon cancer), clostridium, (and many more), the vultureâs digestive system KILLS these diseases/bacteria, and does not pass them in its feces. One article suggests that vulture digestive systems can kill in excess of 12,000 species of bacteria that are found in rotting carrion. Not only do vultures provide this âserviceâ, but scientists are hopeful that by studying how vultures digest these notoriously hard to kill nasties, that it will benefit humanity directly.
I DONâT EAT CARRION, SO I WONâT GET THOSE DISEASES ANYWAY:
Well no, m⌠most of us donât eat carrion, but guess what? We all drink water and share the same planet. Several types of these bacteria can filter down into the water table if not âcleaned upâ by vultures. And while Iâm sure some of you drink chemically treated municipal water, many people still rely on wells, especially in rural areas where there is more likely to be wild animal and farm animal carrion. Plus, rabies: Itâs a thing. Ever since most of the vulture population in India has been wiped out, there has been a rabies breakout. Rabies is scary, do you really want to play around with that nonsense? Not me. Eat all the carrion, PLEASE, vultures. Even if vultures were not so valuable to humans and the environment (though they totally ARE), they are worth saving anyhow. We screwed this up, letâs dang well fix it.
OKAY, IâM DOWN WITH SAVING VULTURES. HOW DO WE DO THIS?
Like many conservation issues, this is tricky and the answers are not always easy. Migratory or âwanderingâ birds in particular are tough to help because they can fly hundreds of miles in a day, and in doing so, cross international boundaries. If you have listened to world politics at all lately, youâll know getting two countries to agree on something (especially something as âlowlyâ as helping vultures) is.. well, itâs tough. Vultures may have a lot of protection in one country, then fly across the invisible boundary, only to be poisoned in the next. In Africa, habitat loss, poisoning, poaching (kill the vultures so that their circling wonât lead authorities to rotting, poached animals), power lines, and illegal trade are wiping vultures out at an alarming rate. In India and other regions, much of the same, but also mixed with the devastating use of antibiotics in cattle which is extremely fatal to vultures.
If you can, spread the word. Here are just a few of the organizations* trying to help vultures:
https://peregrinefund.org/projects/asian-vulture-crisis
https://www.rspb.org.uk/joinandhelp/donations/campaigns/vultures/
http://www.save-vultures.org/
http://www.vulpro.com/
http://www.4vultures.org/
If you canât donate (I feel yaâ I know that all ages and demographics love vultures! And not all can spare money) then thatâs okay. Do something for International Vulture Awareness Day. Tell someone how cool vultures are, or draw a little vulture doodle. There are a lot of really neat species to choose from. Do a vulture interpretive dance at the mall, and tell people about vultures. Yell from the rooftop, from your twitter, facebook, or tumblr, about vultures. Wear some vultures on your BODY (by which I mean a shirt. Not actual vultures. Actually, I really need to get this. Look at their faces ⤠). Tag stuff with hashtags like #IVAD and #internationalvultureawarenessday and #lovevultures and make it trend, or whatever social media magic is these days.
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