A spate of poisoning events this year has killed more than 400 vultures in and near South Africa’s Kruger National Park. In May, 49 vultures died after feasting on a poisoned giraffe carcass. A similar incident soon afterward killed 123 vultures, the vast majority critically endangered white-backed vultures (Gyps africanus). Later that same month, another incident, in the nearby Lionspruit Game Reserve, claimed the lives of more than 100 vultures. In late June, a further 127 vultures along with seven crocodiles and a black-backed jackal died after a buffalo was laced with poisoned in Kruger. These events caused a media stir, but they also only tell part of the story, says André Botha, co-chair of the Vulture Specialist Group at the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. Since 2015, more than 2,000 vultures have been poisoned in Kruger National Park and the wider Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area (GLTFCA). “The media spin placed on the most recent of these incidents seems to totally ignore this fact and the lack of coordinated action to address this challenge by the statutory institutions, especially on the South African side,” Botha says. A mass poisoning incident claimed the lives of 120 vultures in Kruger National Park in May this year. Image courtesy of the Endangered Wildlife Trust. The GLTFCA spans a conservation area of roughly 35,000 square kilometers (13,500 square miles) — an area that straddles the borders of South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, and includes protected areas like Kruger, Limpopo and Gonarezhou national parks.…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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