Title
Identifying priority high risk areas for anti-poison work for the conservation of endangered vultures
Author(s)
Peters, N.; Kendall, Corinne J.; Mgumba, Msafiri; Bracebridge, C.; Beale, C.
Published
2024
Publisher
Vulture News
Abstract
Vultures are declining worldwide and poisoning is the greatest threat in Africa. This study estimated the exposure, threat, and risk of poisoning to vultures in southern Tanzania. Exposure to poisoning was defined as the areas that vultures use and where carcasses are likely to be found by a given individual, and was calculated using GPS tracking data from 33 vultures and capture-recapture modelling. Threat of poisoning was a proxy of human footprint and thus areas where poisoning was possible. Risk of poisoning was determined by areas with an overlap of exposure and threat. Similar to other studies, the results support that vultures are highly efficient at finding the carcasses where they spend time foraging. Risk areas identified using the risk assessment framework covered a smaller geographic area than simple spatial buffers. The inference from these findings were to prioritise anti-poisoning interventions to reduce the risk of vultures encountering poisoned carcasses.

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PUB36225