Vultures are traded illegally for their body parts, as food (bushmeat) and as medicine in shamanistic rituals.
Together, threats from poisoning and trade in traditional medicines account for 90 per cent of reported vulture deaths in Africa.
In just 30 years, vulture numbers in West Africa have declined by 95 per cent outside protected areas.
Over the same period, more than half of the vulture population in Kenya’s Masai Mara have gone.
Africa supports 11 vulture species: 6 are confined to the continent, while the rest also occur elsewhere in Eurasia.
Seven of these vultures are on the edge of extinction, categorised as globally Endangered or Critically Endangered by BirdLife as the authority for birds on the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) Red List of Threatened Species.
Source: birdlife.org