Over 500 critically endangered vultures have been poisoned to death.
The critically endangered vultures where poisoned to death in Botswana, in Africa. The total number of critically endangered vultures poisoned by poachers was 537. The 537 critically endangered vultures that were poisoned recently where from different species.
Those different species included: white-headed vultures, cape vultures and hooded vultures, alongside lappet-faced vultures.
This is the status of these vultures beforehand:
. White-headed vultures
Critically endangered.
There are between 2,500 and 9,999 of the white-headed vulture remaining in the wild. However, this might be outdated stats for these animals, as the last time the IUCN updated their page was in 2016.
. Cape Vultures
Critically endangered.
There are thought to be 9,400 Cape vultures, however, the last time that these animals were assessed was in 2016 by the IUCN.
. Hooded vultures
Critically endangered
The Hooded vulture is critically endangered. However, there is no estimation of their population from the IUCN.
. Lappet-faced vulture
Critically endangered
The lappet-faced vulture is endangered. According to the IUCN, there are 5,700 lappet-faced vultures remaining in the wild (however, those numbers where published in 2016, and there hasn’t been an update since).
Vulture Populations
These different species of vultures populations - that were persecuted recently - shows that these vulnerable-to-extinction animals are at risk from persecution from humans in a cruel way. It is a similar sort of persecution that we see here in the UK, with birds of prey being killed through being poisoned. This is concerning, not just poisoning these animals is cruel, but also because: if these animals are poisoned heavily (in a similar way to how heavy the persecution of rhinos and elephants in Africa), then we could be looking at different species of vultures declining quickly and therefore, becoming more at risk of becoming extinct.
Sources:
https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22695250/118632735
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/06/21/500-critically-endangered-vultures-die-poisoning-botswana/
https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22695225/118592987
https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22695185/118599398
https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22695238/118631696